At Megacon I met Alice Cooper. It was for a picture session. He’s much shorter than I thought. When the wife and I approached him I said, “I am not worthy.” He said, “You’re worthy, at least of me. Maybe not her.” I laughed and said, “You’re right.” He said, “That’s what I tell my wife too.”
I also had a picture session with Tim Curry. He has had a stroke and so was in a wheelchair. When we approached him I said that I really enjoyed him in Three Men in a Boat, a film he did with Michael Palin. He said, “I certainly enjoyed making it.” Later that day we were at the Hilton bar. We decided to go out on the patio. There was Curry with his handlers. I asked one of them if I could have a moment to speak to him. It was granted.
We spoke at some length about Three Men. He said that of all his films the character in the movie was most like who he really was. We talked about older films and such. Finally I got the signal to cut it short. I thanked him for his time and he thanked me for not mentioning Rocky Horror.
I get a bit flustered if I meet a celeb, because of exactly this. I know I’m not a “special” fan, and I’m probably going to ask dumb questions, but I do try to avoid the obvious ones they’ve been asked a thousand times by now. Trying to come up with a good question can be very difficult. If I’m a big enough fan, I’m sure I could come up with something easily (as you did), but I’ve never yet talked with a celeb I am a huge fan of.
Well, there was the Bruce Campbell email, and I am a huge fan, but I wasn’t at the time. This was like maybe 20 years ago.
I had accidentally watched “Army Of Darkness” for the first time on TV while I was getting ready to go to Dad’s for Thanksgiving. I had to leave, or I’d be late, but that movie had me roped in, and I couldn’t stop watching. I had no idea what the hell I was watching, but I had never seen anything like it before, and I loved it.
Later, I sat down and emailed Bruce Campbell that I didn’t know who he was, but that he was a Great Actor, and that watching that film had made me over an hour late for Thanksgiving dinner. I spent about a full page going on about my responses toward Army Of Darkness.
I don’t know about today, but back then Bruce Campbell’s email address was easily available.
It was 4 months before I got a reply (from New Zealand!), but it was definitely from him. He made fun of me for calling him one of our Great Actors, and then said enough about my missed dinner that I knew he had read the whole thing. Very cool, and made my day. I still have the printed version around here somewhere, probably tucked away in my Army Of Darkness Limited 2-DVD Edition. :)
I completely understand this. Thing is, I would have talked about Rocky Horror, but we got into older stuff and it never came up. Which I’m glad of. Purely by accident and in hindsight, I was a cool fan. :)
I have a list of people that I wanted/want to meet. Vincent Price and Roddy McDowall were near the top, along with Malcolm McDowell.
Oh, and I used to do security for Star Trek Conventions. One night I was off duty and with friends, ready to go to dinner, when I saw Nichelle Nichols getting out of a cab in front of the hotel. She was shitfaced. My buddy and I introduced ourselves and asked if we could help her to her room. She was happy for the assistance.
We both took an arm and helped her into the elevator. She kept calling us her saviors. At her door she eventually found her key. We helped her inside.
She asked us if we wanted to stay for a nightcap. We politely refused and left.
I’ve been going to conventions for about 10 years, and I’ve met a bunch of celebs. Some of them while they were at their booths, but since I’m a vendor at these, I usually stay at the hotel for the weekend.
One of the first cons I ever did, this familiar looking guy walked up to my booth and looked over my books. I was still setting up, and he said hi, then shook my hand. I told him I was the author. He nodded, smiled, got a weird look on his face and then said “Okay then. See you later.” It was about five minutes later that I realized it was Sam Raimi.
I’ve run into James Remar, and Lance Henriksen in elevators 2 years ago at Texas Frightmare. I sold a book to one of the guys from Twin Peaks, but I completely forgot which one of the actors he was. Sid Haig was really cool at a con and told me about a freaky book he had where you can pick out any page from a pile and the story continues no matter the page. A little while later he walked by my booth and yelled “Hey writer, shouldn’t you be fucking writing something?” LOL.
I’m not sure where they fall on the celebrity spectrum, but I’ve met and hung out with a bunch of big name authors. Peter Clines is a friend of mine, and I’ve hung out with Jonathan Maberry a number of times, as well. Most authors are cool and down to earth, some of nuts, and I’ve honestly regretted meeting them in person.
I met Hayao Miyazaki walking along a stream one time with someone who I assume was his wife. Most celebrities I would pass by without even realizing but Miyazaki has a look that’s pretty easy to recognize. I trailed him for a bit and then chatted with him for a minute while waiting for a light to change where the path crossed a road. I ended the conversation pretty quickly as I didn’t want to wear out my welcome.
