This page has stories about celebrity close encounters of the third kind.

Scroll down the page to read them all. Check out the "older posts" as well.

To read stories about celebrity close encounters of

the first kind (Celebrity spotting)- select

http://eventhoughwearenotfamous.blogspot.com

To read stories about celebrity close encounters of the fifth kind (Celebrity meets Celebrity) select

http://eventhoughwearefamous.blogspot.com/

This page has stories about celebrity close encounters of the third kind.

Scroll down the page to read them all. Check out the "older posts" as well.

To read stories about celebrity close encounters of

the first kind
(Celebrity spotting)- select

http://eventhoughwearenotfamous.blogspot.com

To read stories about celebrity close encounters of the fifth kind (Celebrity meets Celebrity) select

http://eventhoughwearefamous.blogspot.com/

SNOW DRIFTS

In the 1980’s I was a manager of, let’s say, celebrities or minor sit com stars.  One of whom, post sitcom, found himself hosting a game show for the Disney Channel which is how I found myself sitting in a tunnel underneath Disney World in Orlando talking to Snow White.

First of all let me say that she was beautiful, perfect really.  Jet black hair with that ribbon, that blue dress with the poofy sleeves covering her toned shoulders, her Snow White shoes… the whole thing was out of a storybook. No detail left undone.

So we are sitting there and she’s on break smoking a camel non filter and one of the dwarves, I don’t know Grumpy or Doc or one of them comes over and says, “Breaks over Snow show time in one minute. And she exhales through her nose, throws the cigarette on the tunnel floor, says, “Shit.” and grinds it out with that perfect perfect shoe. It was and remains one of the greatest things I have ever seen

Doug K

John Belushi, Art Carney, and Ray Walston

When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1981 I found a studio apartment in the Hollywood Hills.  It was typical of the time, a pool; a couple of palm trees and a collection of Show Biz have beens, wannabees, and support players.  

One of my neighbors was the location manager for the show Fame. He would give me odd jobs, such as guarding the sets when they were on location and didn’t want to break the set down for the night. I loved it. Basically there was almost nothing to do but exist. The pay was both over and golden time because the bulk of it took place after midnight. I could clear over $500 in a weekend.  As my rent was in the mid 300’s this was a serious windfall.

One of the gigs Tony got for me early in 1982 was being a runner for Art Carney when he was guest starring on the show. He and Ray Walston were playing janitors at the school who were once song and dance men.  And that’s how I found myself in a set made up to look like an alley with these two great comic actors both sitting on overturned buckets, dressed in dirty pants and wife beaters. 

It was the day John Belushi died. 

The set was pretty bummed out as you can imagine but Art and Ray hadn’t really heard of Belushi so it was up to me to explain to these two legends Belushi’s place in the comedy pantheon.  How do you tell a guy who worked with Gleason about the death of one of the funniest fat guys ever? I talked about the drugs and Art said, “Yeah that’s why my first wife left me.”  And then he went into a pantomime of a life of sex, drugs and alcohol that conveyed in a few hand gestures the whole thing. Sex, drugs, and alcohol. John Belushi was dead. He wasn’t the first. He wouldn’t be the last. 

Then they asked for something to drink and I went to get them Cokes.  

Ed Asner and the Winking Guy

Ed Asner
I got a gig writing the script for the Cable Ace Awards in the early eighties. This was back before it was folded into the Emmys and so it was a fairly big deal for HBO, Showtime, etc.

I was in my early twenties and new to LA. It was the first time I ever wrote something like this. One of the show’s hosts was Ed Asner who, of course, I was a big fan of from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

So I walk over to him and hand him his script and he starts reading it and begins to fume, “Who wrote this crap! It’s all bullshit. I’m not saying this garbage!” I am, oh I don’t know… mortified.

Then I saw him. Ed Asner’s winking guy.

This guy is standing just behind Ed and just winks at me and mouths, “It’s Ok. (wink) It’s just Ed. (wink) He always does this. (wink) it’ll be fine. And it was. 

A few minutes later I heard Ed over by the coffee, “What kind of shit coffee is this? It’s putrid. Who would drink this crap?” And sure enough, there was his winking guy winking away, “The coffee’s fine. (wink) It’s just Ed. (wink)… And I thought to myself, “I’ve got to get a winking guy.”

Doug K.

Broken Arrow- Cochise

                      Nino Cochise

When I had the underdeveloped brain of a 20 year old, I was inspired by Kerouac’s “On the Road”, Peter Fonda’s “Easy Rider” and general suburban ennui. I had a 60’s respect for Native Americans (still do) so when  I was on my idealistic cross country hitch hiking adventures, I hooked up with my brother and we went to the Cochise Stronghold in Arizona near the Mexican border.  We both read “Broken Arrow” and fantasized about being Tom Jeffords, the cool pale faced Gringo that was friends with the tribe. The Stronghold is this amazing oasis valley surrounded by cliffs of red, back, and ochre stripes that empty into long stretches of deserts; an absolutely perfect fortress.

When we eventually left, we saw a gift shop-museum by the highway so, obviously, we had to go in. There was no one around save an Indian manikin in a roped-off center platform and all kinds of arrow heads and souvenirs. As we wandered around checking out the cool weapons and artifacts of the Indian Wars, the manikin says “Hello. You like what you see?” Obviously stunned, we soon learned that this was a real person dressed in a traditional manner. After a surreal conversation, this finely attired gent identifies himself as the grandson of Cochise, Nino. There was a little sign that had his name printed on it. Nino was about 80 years old. He went on to tell us that he is also the nephew of Geronimo and that he played his Grandfather on the TV show "High Chaparral”. We became increasingly embarrassed that here was this living legend and he’s on display on a roped-off platform. It was one of the coolest celebrity encounters I ever had but one of the most depressing at the same time. Nino Cochise was a very nice guy. I can only assume his grandfather was too.

wes