Have You Ever Worked with Any Famous People?
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Fun question for today: have you ever worked with any famous people — and did they live up to their reputations? Share some fun stories with us in the comments…
For my $.02, I have worked with a fair number of famous people, I suppose, but I have only good stories to share…
- in my early 20s when I worked for Family Circle magazine, we published a special yearly edition of The Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine. I worked closely with the book editor, so I got to call all of the people who were publishing stories with us (I don't think I ever spoke with Stephen King, although we published one of his short stories, but I definitely spoke on the phone to Elmore Leonard and Sara Paretsky on the phone, mostly for the kinds of logistical/practical/harassing questions all junior editors ask). Some of the stories were nominated for awards and so for several years my editor and I were invited to The Edgars, the big mystery awards ceremony, and we were often seated at Mary's table. I don't remember if I interviewed Mary or just remember various conversations with her — at the time I had this dreamy view of what it might be like to be a novelist and Mary had a very pragmatic view of it. I remember one conversation (it must have been an interview) where she was talking about writing her first novel — her husband had died, leaving her with six kids, and she just went into writing her first book with a “do or die” kind of approach of “let's just get it done.”
- In my law firm days I worked pretty closely with Floyd Abrams, who probably counts more as “famous for a lawyer” — having gone to journalism school I was well acquainted with his name and his part in developing the First Amendment landscape as we know it. We're not in touch now, but I was always very impressed with how “up” he was on everything — there was no resting on his laurels, he knew all aspects of every case and project we worked together on, as well as every recent case of general interest, having read amicus briefs and magazines and books. He was constantly processing and thinking.
- It doesn't quite count as working together, but in law school at Georgetown our legal research and writing program used 2Ls as TAs to teach the 1Ls in very small classes (10-15 people) and to review our work. Savannah Guthrie was my 2L — she had come from a journalism background into law school, just as I had, so we had a lot to talk about, and she really impressed me as being incredibly smart, approachable, and hard working — she gave smart and important critical feedback in a graceful way, if that makes sense. Years later, I met someone who had worked with her at CourtTV and shared my memory of Savannah, who by that point was on The Today Show, and the other woman said YES, YES that's her exactly. (At Georgetown at the time Savannah was somewhat famous for scoring onto law review and then turning it down because it was too involved — I remember hearing after that that she had scored the highest test score in the state the year she took the bar review.)
How about you guys — have you worked with any famous people? Did they live up to what you thought they'd be? Do you have any fun stories to share with us?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / elena_larina.
Nancy Grace, before she was on TV or maybe just getting started. She was really lovely.
Anon to avoid potentially outing myself. My former husband worked in a weird corner of private equity, and as a result of that, I ended up spending time with all manner of people who were…not normal famous, but, for lack of a better term, Vanity Fair society pages famous? Examples:
– Carolina Herrera’s daughter (who was the fashion director of Vanity Fair at the time) was married to my husband’s business partner.
– I twice vacationed with a minor European prince and princess (like Harry and Meghan but of a much less significant country).
– Other random people we spent lots and lots of time with included a guy who’d been a famous child actor (on Dark Shadows, which was before my time), Jean Pigozzi (the Simca heir/art collector), and a Kennedy cousin.
Love savannah
I’ve never worked with anyone famous in the Hollywood sense, although I once literally ran into Julianne Moore at a restaurant in NYC and she was SO nice (and also gorgeous!).
I met Buzz Aldrin through work, but only briefly, and can’t really say I formed a strong opinion of him one way or the other.
My husband is a scientist who knows lots of bold-faced names in his field (including a Nobel laureate) but I don’t think most of them would really be considered famous.
My aunt was a masseuse at some fancy spa in Beverly Hills, she says shes met lots of famous people from Tom Hanks to Kesha.
I met Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson at the circus (or all places!) when I was a teen- they were so lovely and down to earth.
My boss met Tom Hanks through work and said he was incredibly nice.
I met Tom Hanks on a movie set in the mid-eighties and he was lovely.
We’ll define this as “famous” but a contestant from a recent season of The Bachelorette is a client of ours. He’s VERY handsome and I definitely had a swoony moment when I first met him…now he’s just a normal client.
I worked at a hotel where Shaquille O’Neal stayed when he was filming a movie. Super nice guy. He always stopped for pictures with fans in the lobby even after long days on the set. Never complained.
Oh! He was my neighbor for a minute… in ‘Northridge or something.’
met Paul Newman at a charity event and he was incredibly kind to the two young girls who were collecting tickets and pinning name tags. have met Michael Bolton also at a charity fund raiser and he is more gracious in person and he was very good about going over all the bills and minute details the finance people need. and I did meet Mick Jagger in a book store and he is the perfect flirt…he has a gift for making women feel as if they could swing the world.
I was once on a panel moderated by a Very Famous Scholar whose work focuses on the importance of people in authority listening to and showing concern for individual people. He did not communicate with the panelists ahead of the conference, showed up five minutes before the panel and tried his best to avoid interacting with the panelists, and got all of our names and affiliations wrong when he introduced us.
In my early life I was a performing artist studying for a professional career. I gave it up when I graduated from college and needed a steady job that would allow me to live on my own. From time to time a name I recognize will pop up in the news or a review or the credits of a movie and I will think, “if even THAT person who was just not all that great in college could manage to achieve such success, I must be a complete loser because I have accomplished nothing of note artistically or professionally.”
Infamous, but not famous. Spent more than half of my 1L summer working for Jack Abramoff (on his above-board advocacy work, not the stuff that sent him to prison….)
I’ve had the opportunity – through my broadcasting background – to meet quite a few country artists. I’m pleased to say that, with the exception of one, they were all absolutely wonderful people. The one who was not was an absolute SOB backstage while I was onstage announcing his concert. Funny, he didn’t have a recording contract at the time and had a truckload of legal and personal issues going on. Some of the standouts were Randy Owen from Alabama (actually, all the guys from Alabama,) Charlie Daniels, Kenny Chesney, and Dolly Parton. Kenny Chesney was so kind and so humble. Randy Owen and Charlie Daniels were both promoting their respective charity work and are so committed to helping and giving back. They are both very, very inspiring men. And I was completely (almost embarrassingly) starstruck when I met Dolly. She is such a sweetheart and made me feel like I was the star and she was honored to meet me! She is such a treasure. Meeting her was the highlight of my time in broadcasting.
I love Dolly Parton! Did you know about her Imagination Library? She started this program that gives every American kid a free book every month from birth until age 5 (the idea being that many kids may not have regular access to books until they start public school). Apparently she was inspired by her dad, who couldn’t read or write. I think she’s an amazing human being.
I did know about her Imagination Library! It’s one of the most wonderful ideas I’ve ever heard of, and such a wonderful way to give back. My goal in life is to be more like Dolly. She is truly so joy-filled and gracious. We need more Dollys in this world!
I love hearing these stories! My only brush with fame is less good– an actor whom you all know (appeared on TV and cable, some movies)– grabbed my a$$ when I was waiting tables on Sixth Street in Austin in college. So stereotypical….
Not really worked with but these stand out: When the presidential debate came to my university, I was assigned to NBC as their intern for the day of. I got to drive Norah O’Donnell and her cameraman to a location where she did a live spot. I then drove a producer to the post-debate interview with Tom Brokaw and Al Gore; I stood in the corner and just stared. The first job in my career, I worked for a member of Congress, so we got to see people come and go from our office, some of which I had meetings with – the most memorable, I have (separate) pictures with Chuck Norris and Willie Nelson.