I just watched two interviews on YouTube, one with the singer Sade, the other with American actress Barbara Eden. I couldn’t finish either of them...

Then, I thought back to people who I’ve actually admired, met, and spent time with, and almost none lived up to my expectations. Jimmie Walker and Albert Finney are two exceptions, they were both very decent guys. One of my patients went to dinner about a year ago with Faye Dunaway, and he told me she droned on about herself the entire meal.

Now, the most reasonable and likely reason is that I inflated these people to unrealistic levels, which they could never achieve, which was unfair of me.

Nonetheless: have you met anyone you’ve really admired, and they actually exceeded your expectations?

 

Dick Barbour. He spent 2 hrs with me one time in the Porsche garage during a race weekend. Explained everything about his team and cars. Best experience ever.

 

Way back when I was working in Toys R Us in Australia, the Treasurer of the nation, Joe Hockey, came with his family to buy a trampoline.

Just as jovial and polite to us as he was in Parliament.

 

Every dog that I’ve ever owned.

 

Just asked my daughter. She said Brittany Spears was an asshole, and Olivia Wilde and Michelle Dockery were delightful.

 

I had a very small private event at which I met Dick Cheney a few years ago. The event was in his honor so I went in prepared to be professional but having my left leaning bias, was predisposed to dislike him. When he walked into the room he did the meet and greets and although I was “support” staff and not a player, he walked right over to me and extended his hand with a warm greeting. We spoke for a few minutes and he was funny, relaxed, engaging and very personable. His wife was hilarious and played off of him with her quick wit and by the end of the event everyone in the room felt like old friends.

 

This is really interesting, because it begs the question, did you see just his well-polished, political side...or get a glimpse of the real him?

 

I met Wee Man at JFK airport once, I guess you could say he exceeded my expectation by being a bit taller in real life!
He was also super nice and not at all bothered by me approaching him.

 

This wasn’t a political event, it was very intimate and well past his political career (probably around 2015). Of course he is a master at his craft and politicians are skilled at the art of beguiling.
That said, I don’t wish to go hunting with him any time soon.

 

I spent half a day with Leonardo DiCaprio a couple years ago because of a mutual friend.
He was more charismatic, nicer, funnier and more interesting than I could’ve imagined.
I’ll add incredibly kind and generous to everyone we ran into that day.

 

As I think about this, I should give a shout out to the recently deceased jazz singer Nancy Wilson, who I spent an hour with about 20 years ago, and she was down to earth and personable.

 

GF of a friend was working on a high-end bar. A few years ago she told us that all the guys from Metallica were very nice and polite. And also that Paris Hilton is as "Paris Hilton" you can imagine...

 

Another odd encounter was with Martin Sheen about 25 years ago- on the phone. I worked at a music/video rental store when I was in college and he had unreturned videos, so I called to inquire. We spoke for about 5 minutes (he answered the phone, I didn’t get his “people”) and he was polite, apologetic, and eager to resolve the issue- he was just a “normal” person. It forever earned my respect for him.
The true indicator of character is how one treats those in the service industries when nobody is watching.

 

I know Jeff Gamroth, who used to be crew chief for Alex Job racing when they were the factory team around 2000. He told me The Dick Barbour team was the team he was most concerned about. Strong praise. Also met Alex Job at the Daytona 24 hour race. He gave us chips and salsa from Border Cantina (his sponsor). We were all set to hang out with him until the end of race, but we got kicked out because we had snuck into the pits. We asked the security guard who kicked us out how he knew we did not belong in the pits. He told us it was because we were wearing shorts. Damn!

 

FIFY

 

Jermey McGrath has always been very gracious and even remembers my name when I see him, which has always impressed me.

Malcom Smith is legendary for his modesty and I can say the few times I have spoken with him it is true, and he always remembered my name even if it had been a year or longer since we had last seen each other.

Perry King is a true gentleman, I dare say he is a friend and I have had the pleasure of his company on numerous occasions. Went to see his movie, The Divide, at the premiere in Hollywood, and even in the middle of the red carpet spotlight madness (he directed and starred in it) it was still nice to see how genuinely pleased he was that I made the trip down from NorCal.

 

There are plenty of stories of celebs who treat people terribly, but the stories of ones who go out of their way to be nice aren’t as glamorous for some reason.

 

I’m a bit conscious about dropping names, but I’ll tell of another encounter because the man deserves praise. I sat at a table with Mel Brooks at a wedding many years ago.

The man was a saint.

He was not just a remarkable person, he had everyone both captivated and crying (laughing) simultaneously. Truly a magnetic personality, genius entertainer and Hollywood legend.

 

Going back many years, I spent a night with Billy Zane, one of leads in Titanic. He was in London on a promo tour. I hadn’t seen the film and I noticed a spare seat in a packed Met Bar next to him. Got talking, had a laugh and finally after a couple of hours asked him what he was doing in London! He was in hysterics.

 

He is brilliant. He entertained a whole restaurant I was in during a trip to Miami.