Posted in Lessons I Have Learned

1. I worked with Buzz Aldrin's X-wife.  (The one he was married to when he walked on the Moon!) - I worked with her mostly over the phone.  But it never ceased to amaze me that I knew her.  I would picture myself a 4 year old girl in my cousins living room wondering what these men's family thought of them walking on the moon...and here I was talking to one of their wives 20 some years later!  Amazing! (I like History more than movies and TV so this one is my favorite encounters!)
   
2. I was once stuck in traffic next to Whoopi Goldberg. - It was weird.  I tried not to look at her too much,  When I did it would make me laugh!  I probably sat right next to her for 30 minutes feeling really odd!
   
3. I met Neil Diamond and shook his hand! This is actually a funny story.  This was during the time I worked for Good Morning America.  Neil Diamond was going to do a special for The Home Show and all the women in my office who were older than me were dying to go.  I told them all I would stay in the office and catch the phones so they could all go. (I was too young to really be in to Neil Diamond.) They all got tickets months in advance.  About 10 minutes before the show was to start the Executive Producer of GMA buzzed me and said "Put the phones to go to voicemail we are going on a walk."  Well, he was the boss so of we went!  (I thought we were going to meeting or something!  LOL)  We end up backstage with Neil Diamond!  We are introduced and treated like royalty!  All the while I guess they had the cameras on so the audience (Almost all ABC employees.) could see backstage.  All the women in the office were ready to KILL me!  I felt awful!  I don't think they ever believed me that it was not my idea! (My daughter was funny when I was telling the kids this one.  She said "Who's Neil Diamond?  Did he walk on the Sun??"  LOL My kids are really not impressed with any of this! LOL)
   
4. I ate lunch at a table next to Janet Leigh and Jamie Lee Curtis. This was a cool one.  One day  friend and I were at lunch at the Century City Mall Food Court.  It was packed.  The tables are about a foot apart. We are sitting there and someone says "We can sit here Mom."  We look up and it is Jamie Lee Curtis!  They seemed like the most normal Mom and Daughter in the world! We tried to ignore them and give them their privacy.
   
5. I talked on the phone (many times) with Cheryl Gates McFadden better known as Dr. Beverly Crusher from Start Trek, The Next Generation. One of the women I worked with was best friends with her.  They talked on the phone all the time.  It was soooo weird to pick up the phone and hear that very distinct voice!
   
6. I knew the great grandson of Ralph Waldo Emerson.  (He even wrote me a poem once! Which I seem to have lost.  Bummer!)
7. I was stuck in a room once with Sylvester Stallone!  This was a weird day.  I had gone over to the local TV Station to get some papers signed.  When I came out of an office and into the Lobby there was Sylvester Stallone and his body guards!  They were keeping him there because a audience was leaving the studio and they didn't want him seen.  They asked me to please not leave (And his body guards were BIG so I listened!  LOL)  so I just stood there waiting with Sylvester Stallone like 3 feet from me.  I was too embarrassed to talk to him.  He was soooo good looking though and he smiled at me.  What more could a girl want?
   
8. I rode in a elevator with Bob Barker. (My 13 year olds says this is his favorite story...because it's short!"  LOL)
   
9. I worked with a temp who was Elvis Presley's hairdresser the last 7 years of his life.  She was fun and full of great stories!
   
10. A close friend of mine was a close friend with  Alley Mills, the Mom from The Wonder Years.  The two of them had gone on a trip to Japan together.  One night I met my friend to see the pictures of her trip.  The next morning I am walking into my office building and there was Alley Mills waiting for the elevator.  I usually would not talk to stars.  I mean they don't know me, why would they want to talk to me?  But just for fun I said to her "I know you!"  She said, "Yeah, I know." and I said "No, last night I saw your pictures from Japan!  I am friends with Olga."  She thought that was so funny!  She said, "Well that is way different that what I expected to hear!"  This was during the heyday of The Wonder Years so it was fun meeting her.  LOL
    
11. I ran into Jay Leno 3 times in my Hollywood years.  All 3 times were in Fast Food Restaurants!  LOL
12. I was stuck in traffic for 4 hours on the 405 freeway the morning Bill Cosby's son Ennis was killed.  I was driving a friends car and he didn't have a radio.  For 4 hours I had no idea what was going on! (I didn't have a cellphone back then!)  When I finally got to an exit I stopped and called my husband.  He told me what had happened.  I was so grief stricken when I found out what the traffic was all about! It is a terrible sad day I will never forget. (This was actually after I had left Hollywood and I was back visiting with my 3 year old son.)
    
13. I once was in line behind Carrie Fisher in the Mall.  She had her daughter Billie with her in a shopping cart. ( I am not sure where she found a shopping cart in a Mall?) The baby was little probably about a year old and she kept saying "Bille do you want a lollie??" in a strange British accent.  I didn't realize who she was, I thought she was a strange lady from a galaxy far far away!  (Sorry I couldn't resist.) Then when she left and everyone in the store started talking about her.  It was probably my strangest star encounter.
    
14. I saw Lyle Alzado in 1992 a few months before he died.  I had seen him about 3 years before in the same building.  (The building I worked at in the time also housed a lot of entertainment Lawyers. I think that is why he was there so often.)  It was amazing to see how much he changed in a very short period of time.  Steroids are not our friends folks!
15. This is my husbands favorite story!  One year we got to go to The Academy Awards!  We were back stage.  It was really crowded and complete mayhem!  My boss was trying to move us through the crowd.  He had one of my hands and my husband had the other hand.  My boss said to me "Follow me and don't let go!"  So we were this snake of 3 people pushing our way through the crowd.  My husband let's go of my hand!  We go over to the wall to wait for him.  When he catches up I said "Why did you let go?"  He says "You were about to drag me into Gregory  Peck!"  LOL He still teases me about trying to take out Gregory Peck!  The poor man was nearly 80 at the time!  We saw a ton of stars backstage that night.  The 2 most memorial for me were...Liza Minnelli and Barbara Streisand!