Close Encounters of the Clooney Kind

How about “Thank you for the great work you do.” It should be all about them, not all about you. My girl friend from high school became a director at Nickelodeon, but before that she waitressed in a coffee shop in Beverly Hills. She said the customers were horrible: dismissive, arrogant, rude, demanding, insulting, contemptuous. She switch to a coffee shop about 5 miles away, that catered to the business class - and she said the people were great tippers, professional, and a delight to serve. I wish I had met Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. They don’t make them like that anymore - although Will Smith comes the closest to that comedic/dramatic leading man.

I have a picture of my mother age 20 with Charlton Heston somewhere in Chicago. He came to the data processing company where she worked to sign autographs. Very cool.

If I were meeting George Clooney, I would probably say something like “I really enjoy your work, especially ‘Good Night and Good Luck’,” and go from there.

I saw “Leatherheads” opening weekend. It was a fun movie, not one of his best, although I thought the ending was confusing—you really have to pay attention to what’s going on.

It’s funny what Bart writes about Charles Bronson being a kind and gentle man. I once saw him on a street corner in Hanover, N.H.(he and Jill Ireland had a place in Vermont) and he looked like the meanest guy—I wouldn’t consider stopping to ask him for directions!

my favorite George Clooney move was “o Brother Where Art Thou” ( I don’t see many movies, obviously, but I thought his acting was great)

When I go to George Clooney movies I don’t even look for a plot.(Except for Good Night and Good Luck my senond favorite my 1st being Out of Sight). I use to watch his father when he had a hour long chat show in Cincinnati. I can see where he gets his ability to be glib. His father had it. He was funny, but never hurtful. That what I see in George and admire. Cary Grant has always been my favorite actor(after all I am old) but George is my favorite entertainer. I know he is an actor, writer and director. When you see him on shows like David Letterman, Larry King and Charlie Rose he is an entertainer. Also, one of the most informative people I have ever listen too. Love ya George. Grandma(in spirit anyway)

British actor and novelist Stephen Fry has written about fame and muses about his own encounters with fans in a “blessay” that can be found on his eponymous website. I encourage anyone interested to take a look.

I feel bad that the artists, (singers,actors,writers, directors, etc….) Get hounded by the poporatsie.(sorry about spelling) That follow the artists around and hound them. They are human beings too. They deserve to have a private life. And the worst is when they go after the innocent children. That is not fair. I refuse to watch TMZ, or any other show that chase down the artists. If they wanted to be chased down by those people then they would stop and talk not hide and run away, or cover their faces.

Love George Clooney! Besides his great looks and charm, loads of heart, and a political activist too. Have seen all his films and really liked the one that didn’t get the best reviews, “Intolerable Cruelty” with Catherine Zita Jones. Very funny. It’s nice to hear he is in love. He is such a doll! But that’s stating the obvious.

Used to live in Montecito (pop. 4,000 and where Oprah bought a $50M mansion.) Lots of movie people, but the locals don’t intrude and they can have peace for the most part. Richard Widmark, Stewart Granger, Michael Douglas, Cheryl Tiegs (really looked fabulous) Jonathan Winters, Robert Mitchum etc. But the funniest thing I witnessed quite a few years ago was when a friend and I were relaxing in the sun at the cafe tables outside Pierre La Fond. Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall and their children drove up, went into the upscale deli and emerged with drinks and sandwiches. The cars are parked right in front and their children were climbing all over one of them instead of eating their lunch. Jerry Hall looked very stunning and casual against the backdrop of a tangerine colored trumpet vine. Finally a bit frustrated with the children she fumed, “Get off the Rolls, it’s rented!” Mick Jagger seemed very cool, relaxed, he just shrugged and laughed a bit. Then like families everywhere they piled back into the car and headed down San Ysidro Road to the beach.

The truth is, on the occasions that I have met someone famous, I haven’t acted any differently, than if they weren’t famous. I have never had a good grasp of the hierarchical nature of …anything …or anyone.

When I was a waitress at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, there was a gentlemen who snapped his fingers at me. I could not believe he was snapping his fingers at me. I glared at him. He snapped again. I glared again. Finally one of the other waitresses gave me a shove and I went over to the table.

He told me, in a thick accent, that the woman had not received her meal. It wasn’t my table, so I went all over the place trying to locate the missing meal and their waitress. “He’s just messin’ with you”, his waitress told me. “They’ve already finished eating.” I was so very pissed. Who did he think he was?

When I returned, he snapped his fingers again and I went and stared down at him. When he finished talking, I said, ” I beg your pardon” and made him repeat himself again and again, pretending I couldn’t understand his thick accent. I left him red-faced and embarrassed, as I smugly strode away. Another waitresses grabbed me and said “What are you doing? Do you know who that is? That is Christina Onassis and he is her bodyguard.”

I burst out laughing, at myself .

For the nest few days I repeated a little chant to myself over and over…” I am the waitress and they are the patrons.”

I have more stories, but you get the idea.

Years ago, I was taking my evening stroll up the California Street hill (cable cars, clang, clang) when I saw her. “Oh, good lord, you’re Rosemary Clooney!” She smiled that twinkle-toes smile of hers, guessing that such a total loss of cool is not in keeping with my self image, and gave me the most wonderful hug. “Honey,” she said, “it’s a full time job!” George and I agree, it was Aunt Rosemary who was the real deal!

Standing in line next to my husband and me at a venue at the Presideo in San Francisco for the Cleo awards was an elderly man, a retired Professor at the University of Connecticut along with this wife who were very charming. At a pause in the conversation he stated: “I shook hands with Adolf Hitler.” The Professor had been a Rhodes scholar and went to Germany with a classmate in 1934. They saw Hitler speaking in an auditorium. They stood at the back, and when Hitler was done, the guards came up to them and said, Hitler wanted to meet the Americans. Nervously they waited, and Hitler finally came up to them, and after introductions asked, “What are they saying about me in England?” So they told him what the papers were saying about him. This elderly gentleman said: “If I knew then what I know now, I would have shot him, even if it meant being killed myself.” My husband and I were stunned at the realization that we had just shaken hands with a man who shook hands with Adolph Hitler.

ANOTHER encounter: My husband worked for Apple Computer from ‘88-‘94. But a few years after he left, he was in a hotel, sprinting to a meeting that had already started, when he rounded a corner and WHAM - knocked some poor bastid to the ground, flat on his back. My husband is 6’2”, 250lbs, and when he realized that he pancaked the guy, he stood over him, reached down, and pulled him up.

Then he saw the bodyguards running towards him, and realized:

This was no poor guy….THIS was BILL GATES.

My husband picked up Bill’s glasses, after helping him to his feet, and apologized. Bill looked stunned and disheveled and was apologizing too. The bodyguards rushed up, all flustered, for having screwed up and letting him get too far in front of them.

My husband walked away with a little smile: He’d done what mac lovers and disgruntled PC users the world over, could only dream of doing
- decking Bill Gates.

Deni, Mugsy, Bella Mia- thanks for these fun stories…made me smile….

For years I was what I call, the most tired executive in the world. I spent more nights in hotel rooms than I did in my own bed. So that meant thousands of airplane rides.

You sure meet a lot of celebrities in airports and hotels.
Once I was in the Chicago airport I found myself talking to Gabe Kaplan. Once Muhammad Ali and once I rode all the way sitting among the Green Bay Packers….now that was my idea of funnnnnnnnnn. And, one time I ended up at the wrong cocktail party. The one I was supposed to be at was the usual boring business type, but the one I really ended up at was for the Boston Celtics. Larry Byrd sat and talked for a long time. I never made it to my boring party. ~~~~giggle~~~~

But this is my opinon. People may be celebrities, but they put their pants on the same way I do. Theirs are just a bit more expensive than mine.

LEATHERHEADS quite a quaint throwback to the thirties and forties era of fun, gentle, atmospheric films—critics and i disagreed on the wonderfulness of the movie..but then again that’s not news! actually an improvement with regard to some of the screwballier attempts decades ago…zellwgger nearly stole it! anxious to see it last week-end as george partially filmed in my daddy’s old hometown and right outside my beautiful cousin’s office window…she TOLD me all about seeing him day after day after day! fun looking for landmarks!

sometimes this “talk to us” rectangle is tricky? evaporates when one “previews” once too often? 2nd time i attempted to brag about my vicarious closeness to george via my first cousin! poof-there my message went—into the stratosphere—ah, well—the story of my life, thus far!