Famous People Encountered on the Street

I've often been mistaken for a number of famous people. Kevin Bacon, Robert Redford, Warhol. Not sure why- my mother is the only one who thinks I "look like a movie star." A few years ago I was at a baseball game and a woman sheepishly asked if "anyone ever says you look EXACTLY like Ed Begley, Jr?" I couldn't resist: "Well, yeah, because I AM him!" She totally bought it, and even though I confessed right away that I was just kidding, she still left swooning. Several minutes later she reappeared with her heavily tattooed boyfriend, and a camera! Shyly asking if I would mind having a picture taken with her, I gave her the full treatment: lots of shots with my arm around her, to the point where the boyfriend was clearly jealous!
Thankfully she did NOT ask me to autograph any part of her body, which I'm sure would have mortified Mr. Begley.

In the mid 1970's there was a "Bun 'N Burger" on Madison Avenue where I often ate lunch. There were no tables, only a winding counter with stools. One day I looked up from my burger and saw Jackie Onassis and her male companion peacefully eating their burgers right across from me. True New Yorkers all, no one approached or acknowledged them. When I returned to work and told my colleagues who I had seen, they only asked if she was eating the burger with or without the bun.

I've lived here forty years and I never see (or recognize) anyone--except once Judy Collins, and that's because she has just been on the cover of MS. I must have celebrity-blind eyes.

Back in my 20s, I chased Ric Ocasek around Bigelow Pharmacy but he gave me the slip.

Riding in a cab on 57th Street, I saw Howard Cosell on the sidewalk with a crooked toupee.

Expecting my 1st child, I exited my OB/GYN's examining room and was suddenly smack face-to-face with a scowling John McEnroe - his wife Patty Smyth was preggers, too.

The fabulous Allegra Kent was seated in the row in front of me at the NYCB - I slobbered all over her and praised her wonderful autobiography ONCE A DANCER to the high heavens - to her obvious bemusement.

Best for last.

Almost weekly, I see the one and only Uncle Floyd Vivino at various second-hand shops around Paterson, NJ.

A mad thrifter out for the hunt - he only has glinting eyes for vintage vinyl and the strange colorful scraps of clothing he collects.

The outfits he wears for these foraging sessions defy description. Lots of bling.

I tried talking to him once, but he pulled a Marcel Marceau on me.

So now I just trail him quietly and take notes.

A true New Jersey legend.

One morning, a few months ago on Irving Place, I saw Jimmy Fallon in the midst of wrangling one of his small kids. Our eyes met and he must have seen the recognition in my face and he gave me this sheepish smile. Having had the experience of handling energetic pre-schoolers myself, I gave him a big smile in return and kept walking.

Within several minutes: when the marvelous Lucien Freud show was at the Met, Steve Martin walked past me. My heart leaped. I swiveled and watched him merge with the milling crowd. There was a guest book to sign at that show. Browsing through, there was an entry by Anita Brookner commenting on a small painting of her from the back, walking down a street. Her scribbled comment to Lucien Freud: "If you'd asked me, I would have turned around." I seriously contemplated taking the page. Of course I didn't.

Random encounters in NYC... Jackie O (walking down 5th Ave), JFK Jr. (at an art opening), Tony Bennett (picking up takeout at Nobu), Carly Simon (at the Beacon), Liam Neeson, Bjork, Ed Koch, Caroline Kennedy (various restaurants), Diane Keaton (at an old age home), Christy Turlington (security line at JFK)... a sampling of political, musical, theatrical, and fashion luminaries!

Addenda: The play I attended "with" Edie Falco was by Wallace Shawn. People were naked but I can't remember the title. A year or two ago I saw her again (now long post Sopranos) at a small theater in the Village. She wasn't in the audience but sitting on the front steps before the show and hanging out near the box office at the end. Wanted to say "Thank you, Dinettes Plus!" (a line from "Judy Berlin"), as I'd sworn I would do if I ever ran into her again, but lost my nerve.

Sat two seats from Yoko Ono at the Atlantic Theater Company. She was with another woman and wearing black leather pants.

Donald Trump, before The Apprentice and we-know-what, and a woman sat in or near the front row at "The Invention of Love." I learned this when at intermission they strode up the aisle. I recall thinking that his camel's-hair coat was one of the nicest I'd ever seen. They did not return after intermission.

At a performance of God of Carnage in 2009 I had just taken my seat when from behind me I heard a voice, talking to someone, that took me a minute to figure out, but I instinctively knew it from the Sondheim classic, "Here's to the Ladies Who Lunch--the inimitable Elaine Stritch. Sheepishly I turned around and said "Ms. Stritch, please forgive the intrusion but I just wanted to thank you for your work." She said to me: "You don't have to apologize. You're welcome."

Sam Shepard and I passed one another on a sidewalk down in the Village a year or so ago. I quiet, sunny mid morning, no one around. He looked right in my eyes and smiled. He was so compelling I almost walked into the street and got hit by a cab.

(Was not expecting that -- at all!)

George Soros in Central Park about a year ago. Pretty Spring day. He was sort of grandfatherly, wearing a button down sweater, accompanied by a young woman (nurse? granddaughter? assistant?) Not one person noticed him, and everyone left him alone.

JFK, Jr (who almost seemed to want to be "noticed"), Tory Burch, Henry Kissinger, Charlie Rose (who always seems sort of unkempt and can't seem to understand the concept of cufflinks) Susan Sontag, Paul Newman, Denzel W (on the front steps of the Plaza, watching the snow fall), the Fiat heir who just got in a bit of trouble, (etc etc etc)

A sampling--and I don't even live there:

Was walking down the street in Midtown with my mother some 60 years ago and encountered Morey Amsterdam coming toward us. I was awed. He was very nice and spoke to us. Wish I could remember what he said. Loved his voice. I do remember a coat.

Midtown maybe 40 years ago, with mother-in-law. It was Secretaries Day and Alan Alda was walking briskly down the street holding a large potted plant, or maybe two. Decided he was giving them to secretaries, based on zero information.

Maybe 30 years ago, long before The Sopranos, Edie Falco sat two seats from me and during the intermission, emerged from ladies' room as I entered.

At Lily Tomlin's "Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe" I shared a row with Mick Jagger and a couple of other Rolling Stones, and Linda Hunt was on the aisle in the row in front of us. The Stones did not return after the intermission, missing half of a great and memorable show.

Woody arm in arm with Soon-Yi last year, upper East Side, walking toward me on the sidewalk. Jaw dropped. I was too shocked to smile and nod as one should. But she sweetly smiled at me and I felt waves of gratitude.

Last fall, heading for a matinee, waiting at a corner, stood just in front of Christian Borle talking to two friends. They remained behind me for a block. I eavesdropped. Decided he must have been walking to work at "Something Rotten!" Man, that's charisma. What a star.

And more. It's always a thrill.

I once served bread and water to Tom Jones in the 70s when I was a busboy.

Living near Lincoln Center for the past 25 years, I've sat next to Eli Wallach on the 104 bus, saw Cecily Tyson, also on bus, talked with Catherine Zeta Jones at a fancy housewares store, was in dance class with Mary Tyler Moore, (she had the highest kick in the room!) and so many others. Actually walked past Greta Garbo on Madison Avenue and saw Ingrid Bergman in my apartment lobby. Pretty amazing but normal for NYC...

My favorite sighting was at JFK many years ago. As I was waiting for my luggage to appear I realized that most of my fellow passengers had retrieved their bags and left. The empty conveyor belt stopped. The gentleman next to me let out a low moan. Across from us was Charlie Rose who immediately flagged down a man wearing a jumpsuit that identified him as an employee of the airport. Mr. Rose worked his magic and the next thing I saw was the worker crawling down the conveyor belt, through the rubber strips before disappearing into the back. After a short wait the belt started up again and our three bags appeared. Thank you Charlie!!!!

Amy Sedaris, literally waitressing at Mary's Fish Camp counter, post "Strangers With Candy".

One day during the summer of 1985 I walked past some non-descript fairly short guy in a black t-shirt and black pants talking to a woman in front of the Apthorp Apartments on the corner of 79th Street and Broadway. I was about ten steps past him when I suddenly realized that the guy was Jack Nicholson. I dared not interrupt him to talk, but sure enough eight months later he and Meryl Streep were up there on the big screen playing estranged hubby and wife in a scene filmed at the Apthorp for the movie,Heartburn.

NYC is amazing. Here is my list:
Claudia Shiffer (on a quite, deserted street in the West Village)
Mike Tyson (at Century 21 Dept Store)
Britney Spears (in Times Square, before she become a megastar)
Danny Aiello (eating at a restaurant in Hoboken)
Steven Van Zandt (he was my neighbor)
Gregory Hines (on the street)
Janeane Garofalo (on the street)

Probably more that I don't remember right now.

Kevin Bacon, going for an early morning run on Broadway. Woody Allen in Central Park near the Dakota. Robin Williams on Broadway near the China Club spoke to us for a bit, lovely man. Paul N & Joanne W at Sarabeths.

Back in about '68 while a student at CCNY, a girlfriend & I were in the Hallmark Gallery around 57th & 5th (more or less). They had an exhibit downstairs on rocks & minerals of NYC. Since I was a geology student we went to see what was there. We ran into Jackie Kennedy & son John looking through the exhibit. No one else was down there with us as far as I could see. She was telling him "see, you can make a collection like that". He was probably about 7.

Jon Voight at Park Lane Hotel, Central Park South. Robin Williams in Toronto: Brazil had just won the Soccer World Cup 2002 and we were celebrating when he approached us, hugged us e celebrated with us! I still have the pictures! RIP Robin!

Oh, this is always fun. Here are some of mine:
James Baldwin (at the Russian Tea Room)
William F. Buckley Jr. (coming out of a movie while I was going in)
Salvador Dalí (coming out of a movie we had both just seen)
Philip Glass (having dinner at a restaurant in the East Village)
Pope John Paul II (passing in a car in Brooklyn Heights – no barricades)
Jerzy Kosiński (at the Russian Tea Room)
Mickey Mantle (getting into his car at the Yankee Stadium player’s entrance – license plate “MM7” before vanity plates were common)
Robert Redford (at a NY Cosmos game)
Wallace Shawn (at the old Elephant & Castle on Prince St. – my dinner with Andre!)
Susan Sontag (at a Les Arts Florissants concert at BAM)
Robin Williams (at Sarabeth’s on Madison Ave.)
Debra Winger (with Robert Redford while they were making Legal Eagles)

I ran into Wallace Shawn at a FedEx office in Sheridan Square. Loudon Wainwright III used to live just upstairs from me, and I'd meet him, taking out the garbage.

Way back when, when the NY Auto show was still at the Coliseum, I was waiting inside the show for my brother in law. As I waited, these two dingy guys, one dressed in a coon skin hat and a buckskin jacket, kept passing me as they circled the show. Interestingly, as they passed, I noticed many of the beautiful models who work the show coming up to the dingier guy in the coonskin cap and kissing and hugging him. Hmm I thought, who is this guy? After the third or fourth pass it dawned on me, it was a young Dustin Hoffman. I then realized why all the beautiful woman were making such a fuss. I never would have noticed if it weren't for the beautiful woman!

Reading these comments has triggered memories of the celebrities I've seen over the years; Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward sat behind me holding hands @ The Paris movie theater many years ago, I shared an elevator ride with Alan King years before that, Andy Warhol in a store where I worked, my mother waited on Dustin Hoffman in that same store several years later. I saw Chris Noth jaywalking in the village and I saw Gloria Vanderbilt in a Spanish restaurant
one year near Christmas. I saw Carly Simon doing a photo shoot in Central Park. My boss jogged behind Pope John Paul II riding in the Popemobile. I love NY.

Back in the early 60's when I was about 12 or 13, I and two friends were hanging out in the city when I spotted Sidney Poitier. We followed him for about two blocks when we finally got to a cross walk and he spun around and glared at us in his best " They call me Mr. Tibbs" look. Three little girls got the courage to ask for his autograph and he complied.

Walking through the Village a few years ago with my partner we walked past a crowd congregated on the sidewalk and Danny Strong was just a few feet away, walking towards us. Mr. Strong was far too close for me to draw my partners attention to him with out being obvious so I said nothing until there was some distance between us. Now, 'Danny Strong' is our code word for 'something really cool, right in front of us, too close to draw attention to.'

worked 20 years in 30 Rock. rode the elevator every day with celebrities.
it was an every day occurrence.

the key is be "cool" no photos, no hugs or kisses.
Just a nod and a warm smile

I saw Alan Alda in the Scribner bookstore when I worked in the building in the 70s and Mary Tyler Moore at Bloomingdales going thru the revolving door. And a favorite of mine, Tom Courtney exiting a theater stage door with a golf club in his hand. I still remember the shock at seeing him.

I was walking to the park past The Anderson School on W. 77th on a Saturday a few years ago and saw that there was a rummage sale going on in the play yard. (This is before the playground equipment was installed.). Impulsively, I wandered in to look at the stuff for sale. While I was reading a used book a couple approached to my left. I paid no real attention to them until the man spoke. I then realized I was standing a foot away from Dustin Hoffman. It was awkward for me because I did not want to act unnatural around him but the proximity of him made me nervous and curious at the same time. The urge to stare was very strong but I managed to move along the table and act nonchalant in spite of myself. Dustin was still rummaging through the sale items when I left about 30 minutes later. No one bothered him that I saw. Even browsing through cast offs he is quite the personality.

Mario Merola was the Bronx County District Attorney in the 70s and 80s. He had a distinct burly and very distinguishable looking face that appeared in the NY papers during his high profile prosecutorial days. Many years ago, I was having dinner with my elderly mother at a popular Italian Restaurant in Yonkers. I immediately spotted DA Merola seated alone and very close by. I showed no sign of recognition out of respect for his privacy and did not alert my mother who I thought might have said something embarrassing . As we continued with our dinner I was aware that that my mother kept stealing glances at Mr. Merola. It was obvious that she recognized someone she had seen somewhere but could not put a name to the face. I was hoping that she would not solve the mystery. Mr. Merola was seated so close that he could not avoid showing occasional eye response to my mother's obvious glances. This only emboldened her mental search. Just when I though she had given up trying, my mother sat straight up in her chair, looking straight at Mr. Merola and said in a very loud triumphant voice "It is you, isn't?". She finally figured out who he was like it was a game TV game show. She never mentioned his name. "It is you, isn't it?"is all she said. I squirmed for a brief moment until Mr. Merola responded to my mother and said, "Yes, it is me?" without mentioning his name. All he said was "It is me". He smiled, my mother smiled and I was relieved.

Years ago at the original Balducci's, I was contemplating the salad bar when I heard a familiar voice behind me. Thinking it was a friend, I instinctively turned around to say hello. I felt a half second of utter confusion as I tried to place the face right there in front of me. It wasn't a friend, it was Whoopi Goldberg, grocery shopping with her mother. Seeing my bewilderment, she stood there with an amused half-smile on her face waiting for me to speak. Too embarrassed to even say hi, I just spun back around, smacking my forehead into the sneeze guard painfully.

Sorry, Ms. Goldberg, for being such a graceless jerk.

Think I saw Bruce Willis in the theater district some years ago.

Back in the mid-70s I was walking along the north side of West 72nd Street and noticed two people (and a small dog) chatting in front of the Dakota. As I got near enough to identify them I realized it was Leonard Bernstein and Lauren Bacall (both of whom lived there). I smiled to myself, but didn't engage. It was Ms. Bacall's dog, by the way.

I used to see Arnold Steinhardt walking his dog on Riverside Drive (I was walking my beagle). After seeing him a few times I finally got up the courage to talk to him, telling him that I used to watch (and hear) the Guarneri Quartet perform at SUNY Binghamton from 1968 through 1970 while I was a graduate student there. He was very gracious, I might add.

And through dog walking encounters I've gotten to know the actor, Tom Tammi, who has had many roles both in film and on television. A very nice man, indeed.

About 35 years ago, while dining with my wife, daughter, friends and their daughter at The Russian Tea Room, my 9 year old daughter looked at the large table (with a family of about a dozen members) next to us and asked me, "Is that Gloria Vanderbilt?" Yes, it was. She said: "I would like to talk to her." I replied, "Go ahead." She asked, "What should I say." I told her she might say that she liked her jeans. (That's how she knew her - from the TV commercials.) So, she and her friend went over and the conversation went like this:

"Miss Vanderbilt?" (Very polite, my daughter.)
"Yes?"
"I like your jeans"
"Well, aren't you sweet! Thank you. What's your name?
"Rikki."
"And what's your friends name?"
"Stefie."
"Well, Rikki and Stefie, I would like you to meet..."
and she proceeded to introduce them, individually, to everyone of the family members who was at her table for dinner.
An amazingly gracious NYC encounter.

Part of being a New Yorker is encountering celebrities, but giving them their space with a smile or nod of acknowledgement. I have very poor facial recognition, so unless they are right near my, I wouldn't notice them. I did have a funny experience when I was attending a play and one of the actors looks so familiar. I stared at her intently for a good part of the play trying to figure it out. The next weekend at the dog park, she came up to me to say, "I saw you staring at me the other night." I hadn't even know my neighbor was an actor!

I'm awful. I wouldn't recognize anyone. Oh, once I saw Ed Koch at the 86 St. Lex station, but he was introducing himself.

Saw Rick Ocasek picking up his son from music lessons, Katharine Hepburn at Dean and DeLica, and Bette Midlet. Also mistook David Byrne for a courier.

Spiro Malas - my wife and I congratulated him on Most Happy Fellow when we say him on the UWS. Our infant son was with us -- Mr. Malas picked up my son and sang Happy To Make Your Acquaintance in full Broadway voice. Got to love New York.

I met Edward Burns in an elevator of the NY Supreme Court at 60 Centre Street. I was clerking for a judge. He was going to jury duty. I didn't acknowledge him and left him alone. He said thank you to me when he left the elevator. We both smiled.

I also met Denzel Washington coming out of a Broadway theater after he performed.

Same here in Paris. There are the French stars who live here and the Americans who enjoy that the Parisians leave them alone. If someone walks up to them and asks to be allowed to take a picture of them it's almost always a tourist.

THis diary entry reminds me of my mother's experience in the 1940's. She was having lunch at a Chock Full o' Nuts counter when she saw someone she knew. She walked over to the woman and said, "I know you.Don't I?"
The woman looked a her and smiled. That's when my mother realized she had just spoken to the famous actress Ingmar Bergman.
My mother was so embarrassed and star struck. The actress was very friendly and asked my mother's name before my mother raced off.

You saw Emma Watson walking down the street and you didn't call me?

I'm amazed that anyone would know many of these people on sight. David, your quick facial recognition skills are astounding!

Greta Garbo and I actually crossed paths on 57th St one enchanted afternoon.

I would put ivanka trump in the "infamous" column.