Actors I’ve Seen in Person (and Sometimes Met - Sort of)

On the set of 'Return of the Jedi' (1983) I was an extra in a scene with Mr. Ford. The only time I ever had a conflict with a celebrity. We were thirty feet above the floor of a warehouse, in a small boat, in front of a green screen, and I thought that his practicing stunts on our small platform was not safe. He glared at me. Don't know if he knew I was just an extra or if he thought I was 'Peter Diamond' (qv), the stuntman whose masked-costume I happened to be wearing.

I was much further away from him on the set of 'Indiana Jones and the Lost Temple of Doom' (1984). This was the airport scene in which the characters played by Mr. Ford and Kate Capshaw were escaping by jumping from a car and into an airplane.

I stood next to him on a platform in front of a green screen on the set of "Return of the Jedi". He was stoic in that he had no lines and just stood there patiently. Neither did he say anything to me nor, so far as I know, to anyone else, off-camera. In some of the many takes that day, though, he had a stand-in, a college football player whose name I do not recall. While on the set, the stand-in called everyone he knew and told them he was standing in for Billy Dee Wiliams. He complained that no one would believe him, but it was true.

On the set of "Return of the Jedi" in front of a green screen. Hamill stood next to Harrison Ford in front of the boat-platform we were on. Off-camera, he actually spoke to me. There were sketches of scenes from the movie on easels around the floor of the warehouse where we were filming. The panels featured the scene where the heroes ride flying motorcycles through a forest. He came up to me and jocularly asked whether I was trying to get a scoop on the movie. At least I think he was kidding.

Ms. Rogers starred in a summer stock production of "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Carousel Theatre (now gone) in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1960. I remember seeing her in it. My parents and maternal grandmother took me to see several musical plays at the Carousel in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mr. Raitt starred in a production of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" at the Carousel Theatre in Framingham, Massachusetts, the last week of July 1967. I saw it with my father.

Ms. Rodd starred in a production of "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" at the Carousel Theatre in Framingham, Massachusetts, the last week of July 1967. I saw it with my father.

I saw Mr. Preston in "Ben Franklin in Paris" in Boston in 1964. My grandmother took me. I enjoyed his humorous if not very historical portrayal of Franklin. I presume this was during tryouts before it went to Broadway.

I saw Mr. Price in his one-man show "Diversions and Delights" about Oscar Wilde. (Guess who he played.) This was in Boston circa 1977. He was terrific.

I saw Mr. O'Brien in "Destry Rides Again" at the Carousel Theatre in Framingham, Massachusetts, circa 1960. I waited in line and got his autograph but no longer have it.

I was an extra in her TV movie 'Forbidden Love' (1982). I was disappointed that I only saw her at a distance of about one hundred yards. Talk about deep background.

I was an extra on 'The Right Stuff' (1983) where I rubbed shoulders with several actors. I just had to ask Mr. Shepard a dumb question as he was on his way to lunch. "Yes," he said. After an awkward pause, he added, "I have to go eat lunch now."

I almost literally rubbed shoulders with or bumped into Walton Goggins at the Virginia Film Festival in about 2008(?). He was there giving an acting seminar which I did not attend, but I passed him on the street. He was engaged in conversation with two other men, one of whom had no idea who Mr. Goggins is. I did not say anything so as not to be rude, but, in retrospect, I wish I had because Mr. Goggins might have appreciated being recognized at the very moment he was having to explain who he was. "I love your work on 'The Shield'," I might have said. (This was well before 'Justified' (2010).)

This is more of a sighting as are many of my brushes with stars. I was at the Russian Tea Room in New York City and I saw Mr. Aiello having a meal with another man. I discreetly looked but didn't approach. Not sure when this was, but at this point I think it must have been at least twenty years ago, if not more.

I saw Mr. Ray in Hollywood in about 1984 when I was visiting my friend Linda who lives in L.A. A group of us were going to a movie and Linda spotted Mr. Ray who was also going to the movies with someone. I think we were at the same theater, and we were on our way in while he was on his way out. Linda was a big fan and was so effusive toward him that Mr. Ray laughed, possibly delighted but also possibly embarrassed. The movie we were going to see was 'Dreamscape' (1984), which starred Dennis Quaid. (See below.)

I saw him on the set of 'The Right Stuff' (1983), but it was during a big crowd scene. Much of the cast was in that scene, including Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Kathy Baker, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed, Mary Jo Deschanel and Donald Moffat. Although many of these actors went on to make their marks in major television and movie roles, Mr. Quaid was probably the only one I had heard of at the time.

A mustachioed Mr. Aykroyd, wearing short khaki pants was joking it up on the set of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984). I remember one of the assistant directors trying to encourage us extras to laugh at every single thing Mr. Aykroyd said. I did not think that Mr. Aykroyd needed this sort of help. That's Hollywood, though.

The late William Greaves was primarily known as a documentary film director, but he was a renaissance man who began as an actor in low budget movies and even directed and appeared in a quasi-documentary, 'Symbiopsychotaxiplasm', that was more of an improvisational work of fiction. He also taught acting, which is how I met him in the mid-1970s when I took lessons with a group in Boston. Mr. Greaves would commute from New York just to teach us. I am largely indebted to him for showing me that I have no talent for acting. I was saddened to see him listed among those who died in 2014 on the Academy Awards Show.

Another actor I saw on stage, this time in a 1990s tour of 'Richard the Third', which I caught in San Francisco. Naturally, Mr. McKellan was terrific in the title role. The production was done in 1930s costumes just as the subsequent movie version was. The idea worked up until the climactic battle in which the warriors reverted to fifteenth century swords and armor. I never saw the movie version.

I saw this actor on stage in 'The Golden Age' in New York in April 1984. The underwear scene was, shall we say, impressive.

It was in about 1980 that I saw Orson Welles at the cinema named for him (long since defunct) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There had been an announcement in the paper offering free admission to a Welles appearance at the theater, so I and a number of people filled an auditorium for an evening. As Mr. Welles sat down in a chair, we could not help noticing a cameraman covering him on the well-lit stage. 'This is a racket!' he announced. He then explained that he was doing a TV special for a German production company (I do not know what program it was or what became of it), and the idea was to show him taking questions from an audience. I remember one question was about the famous single-camera opening shot in 'Touch of Evil' (1958) and how he had done it. Ever iconoclastic--even when he was the icon--Mr. Welles brushed off that tour-de-force shot as a gimmick and heaped praise, instead, on the cinematographer (Russell Metty?) who filmed a scene that was shot in a cramped trailer. Mr. Welles pointed out that it was a greater feat to have filmed all of those actors traipsing through such a confined space and make it all look coherent.

When I first saw Eddie Mekka on 'Laverne and Shirley' I had no idea that I had already met him. He and I went to the same high school and both of us participated in the same talent show in which Eddie did a spot-on imitation of a Southern lawman from a then-popular (1970) car commercial, whose signature line was, 'Boy, you in a heap o' trouble'. Eddie worked in the local light opera company before his break into network television.

I saw her in Boston in 1968 when she played Cleopatra in 'Her First Roman', a musical version of G.B. Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra'. Saw it with my father about a year before his death. We saw a lot in Boston that year, though mostly movies. I lobbied for going to see this play. Funny, I don't remember it being a musical at all, though that would make sense because Ms. Uggams was a sensational singer as well as an actress.

I saw him in Boston in 1968 when he played Caesar in 'Her First Roman', a musical version of G.B. Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra'. I don't remember it being a musical at all, but that would make sense because Mr. Kiley was a sensational singer as well as an actor, most noted for his star-turn in 'Man of La Mancha'. My girlfriend has no idea who he is even though she must have seen him in some of the many movie and TV roles he had in his long career.

When I lived in and near Berkeley, California in the 1980s, I saw several stand-up comics. I saw Ms. Poundstone on the UC Berkeley campus at a little eatery that served beer and wine, as I recall.

When I lived in and near Berkeley, California in the 1980s, I saw several stand-up comics. I saw Mr. Nealon at the same venue where I saw Paula Poundstone, on the UC Berkeley campus. I remember he did his bit about how the voices of people who are recounting their memories always seem to go up about an octave; he imagined that you could tell if someone speaking a foreign languages was recounting the past because their voice would do the same thing.

When I lived in California in the 1980s and '90s, I saw several stand-up comics, including Steven Wright when he played the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco in the early or mid-'90s. I love his surreal humor: 'Yesterday I... Wait, that wasn't me'.

I first saw Bob 'Bobcat' Goldthwaite do stand-up in Berkeley, California in the early 1980s when he was a contestant in the San Francisco Comedy Competition. He would mismatch his tone of voice with the content of his speech and then state the obvious as if it were a disturbing revelation: 'I am naked underneath all my clothes!' Later, after he did his first 'Police Academy' movie, I saw him perform in San Francisco where he joked about being told on the set that his character's actions as staged did not making any sense. 'This isn't Amadeus,' he reminded them. 'Who cares if it makes sense?'

Saw Dana Carvey do his Church Lady and other characters at a venue in San Jose, California in the 1980s.

Met him on the set of 'The Right Stuff'. We were on a break between takes, and we struck up an easy conversation. I had to ask him who he was for purposes of carrying on our conversation, and HE apologized to me for assuming I might know who he was. Not getting huffy about not being recognized - that takes a certain degree of egoless-ness. I have since seen him on a lot of TV shows and he is amazingly versatile.

I saw Mr. Reynolds in his memorable one-man show "Only the Truth is Funny" in San Francisco in 1990. This launched a career that included a short-lived sitcom and appearances on late-night talk shows.

Although a gifted comedian, Rick Reynolds has remained off the radar for a while, reportedly having suffered from more than one depression. He may still be doing stand-up comedy, although he apparently gave up a blog in 2007, which is too bad because I still remember him as being one of the funniest and yet most likeable performers I have ever seen.

Not much to say. I saw him in a local production in Santa Rosa, California in the 1980s. I don't even remember what the play was, though it might have been 'Our Town' in which case it is a forgone conclusion that Mr. Carradine would have been the Stage Manager. The acoustics were horrible in the huge auditorium. I did not enjoy the show. Nothing against him, though. He had a long and distinguished career and gave us a brood of talented progeny.

Now we are possibly getting into tricks of the memory rather than actual memories. Did I actually see Mr. Lederer in person or not? In the mid 1980s I went to a presentation of a restored version of "Pandora's Box" in Berkeley, California. I know he was discussed and that he was involved in promoting this edition of the movie that made him a star in 1929. He may have put in an appearance. During the 1980s I had occasion to see a couple of classic silent films not only in theaters but with live music. This was one of those occasions. There was a small but very lively orchestra, and I remember that either Mr. Lederer said or else someone said on his behalf that he liked the music that the musicians had come up with to go with the movie.

For someone who is ordinarily behind the camera or, rather, behind the sound of the movies, Mr. Coppola is a star in his own right. He scored the Godfather Trilogy for pity sake. I saw him in Oakland, California, in the early 1980s when he conducted a full orchestra to accompany the then-newly restored print of Abel Ganz's silent classic "Napoleon" (1927). It was a magnificent visual and auditory experience.