In my advertising work, I got to meet a number of my movie heroes over the years, mostly in casting calls. I’ve also been fortunate to be at events and places where I ran into famous people. For example, I lived in a condo in Phoenix where then-President Reagan’s mother-in-law lived, and one Mother’s Day he arrived with Nancy and about 1,000 cops to visit her. I got a few minutes to chat with him, and even though I wasn’t a political fan, it was a thrill to meet “the leader of the free world.” When I meet somebody like that, I just stick out my hand and introduce myself. Usually, the person is friendly. Tony Bennett was the exception to that, but it was my fault; I had interrupted him as he was preparing to go on stage.
The only idol I’ve ever frozen up in front of was Orson Welles. I was working in a recording studio in L.A. when he stuck his head in the door and asked my engineer a question. When I heard his amazing voice, I spun around in my chair and just stared. He got his answer and lumbered off. To this day I kick myself not following him and saying hello.
Maybe my favorite meetings happened in a Dallas C&W bar in the ‘70s, where I met Buddy Holly’s widow (Elena), a regular. We shared and beer and danced! Talk about your six degrees of separation. There I was two-steppin’ with the woman who had been married to the man whom the Beatles and many other R&R singers credited as a major inspiration, not to mention the subject of several of Buddy’s most famous songs!