Karen's Celebrity Encounters
Mine and Cesar's celebrity encounters first started in 2007.
Our first red carpet premiere was in Hollywood in June of that year when we attended the star studded premiere of Ocean's
13.
The movie stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon
and all were in attendance including Angelina Jolie who was there with Brad.
We were fortunate enough to be in the front row and met all
the stars. Since then we have attended numerous premieres, concerts and awards shows and I have had my photo taken with
over 100 of them and have had the stars sign various pieces of paraphernalia.
The nicest stars I have met are George Clooney, Angelina
Jolie, Matt Damon, Def Leppard, Snow Patrol, Paris Hilton, Jesica Alba and Jensen Ackles.
The worst are Robin Williams (not so much a funny man in
real life!) Billy Idol, Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland. All either refused to sign or were just plain rude!
Below is a summary of recent meetings.
December 2nd 2008
Cesar and I attended a charity auction at a gallery next
door to the LA INK shop owned by Kat Von D. Kat had sketched numerous portraits of her boyfriend Nikki Sixx of Motley
Crue fame.
The tattoo artists were present, Corey Miller and Hannah
Aitchison as was Nikki. Tom Araya from Slayer was also there even though he denied he was said person and a weird
conversation with him ensued! He eventually admitted he was Tom and signed and posed for a photo
Kat was present but was busy filming in the shop.
December 7th 2008
Knotts Berry Farm had the group Puddle of Mudd performing
a free acoustic concert for the holidays. They performed half a dozen songs including their smash hit "Blurry" and songs
from their new album. After the show the singer Wes Scantlin signed autographs and posed for photos, we got a cd signed
and I had my photo taken with Wes.
December 11th 2008
Cesar and I received tickets to see Snow Patrol at a chat
show. The band was performing an oudoor mini concert. Tom Cruise was also appearing on the show and signed autographs.
Unfortunately we were in line for the concert so missed out on Tom but we had met him twice before. Cesar and I were
front row centre for the concert, Snow Patrol performed five songs and ended with an amazing performance of "Chasing Cars".
After the show we went to the place we always go to try and
get autographs and the guys didn't disappoint. The singer Gary and the keyboard player Tom came over and signed cd's
and index cards for us and I had my photo taken with both. The guys were really nice and hung out for quite a while,
it was a good night!
January 8th 2009
Cesar and I attended the premiere of the movie "My Bloody
Valentine 3D" starring Jensen Ackles of Supernatural fame. We had a great evening, we got to hang out with
the likes of Jensen, Jessica Alba and Paris Hilton.
All in all we had ten celebrities sign and pose for photos,
these people were: Jensen Ackles, Jessica Alba, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Kerr Smith, Jaime King, Frank Miller, Corey Haim,
Katy Perry and Bruce Vilanch.
Everyone was great and very friendly and we even got a pair
of souvenir 3D glasses from the movie!
January 28th 2009
We went to the Kimmel show to see the band Disturbed.
We were front row off to the right so had a really good view. The band performed half a dozen songs and then signed
autographs and posed for photos afterwards.
February 14th 2009
We attended the Hollywood Collector's Convention in Burbank
on Valentine's Day. Amongst the celebrities attending were Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Tony Curtis and Eric Roberts.
I chatted and got autographed photos from the above mentioned plus Joan Collins, Robert Picardo, Richard Kiel and Sean Kenney.
All the celebrities were very accomodating and polite if
not a little quirky. Joan Collins had her own room to sign in, I was told this was due to the fact that she did not
want the flourescent lights on. She was apparantly also complainig a lot that it was either too hot or cold for her.
Debbie Reynolds was lovely if not a little out of it, she
seemed almost in a trance.
Tony Curtis was nice, everyone who has seen the photo of
him and me keep remarking that they did not know he was still alive!
Eric Roberts gave me a 10 dollar refund so I only paid ten
dollars for his signed photo and to have my photo taken with him, bargain!
Richard Kiel I was shocked to see was in a wheelchair so
I never got to see his enormous height, he was very nice.
Sean Kenney from Star Trek told me he became an actor whilst
serving in the airforce. He was sent to Harrow in the UK and met a woman who was trying to become an actress.
He would read lines with her and picked up the acting bug!
Kevin Sorbo, of Hercules fame, was charging 30 dollars
for a signed photo and 20 to have your photo taken with him, total rip off, I got Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds combined
for the 50 dollars he was charging. I noticed his table never had much activity.
April 18th 2009
We went to Hollywood for the Paley Festival at the Cinerama
Dome. We were lucky enough to get into a Desperate Housewives event. There we met James Denton (Mike) Kyle MacLachlan
(Orson) Neal McDonough(Dave) Kathryn Joosten (Mrs. McCluskey and also the entertainment reporter Terri Seymour.
April 25th 2009
We attended a Hollywood Convention in Burbank. Amongst
the celebrities were Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers) Erin Gray (Wilma from Buck Rogers) Tia Carrere, Dawn Wells (Mary
Ann from Gilligan's Island) and Richard Eden from the Robocop tv series.
May 30th 2009
We attended a charity yard sale being held by Scott Baio
and his wife. Amongst the atendees were, Scott, Jason Priestly, Larry Bird and Dannilynne, Kristy Swanson, Doug Jones,
Jeremy Jackson and the Clique Girlz.
We bought baby clothes which had belonged to Scott's Baby,
Jason's baby and Dannilynne (Anna Nicole Smith was her mum) We had the daddys sign them!
June 19th 2009
We attended an awards show in Hollywood which was entitled
"A Father's Day tribute to tv dads" This event featured famous dads from tv shows. We managed to get Erin
Moran, Jon Cryer, Bill Paxton, Adam Rich, Douglas Smith and Christine Lankin despite extra tight security.
June 27th 2009
We attended a free signing by the Los Angeles Dodger James
Loney at a BMW car dealership in LA. Cesar got him to sign a Dodger hat he had and we were given a free photo for him
to sign also. The car dealership also gave us free hot dogs (Dodger dogs!) and soda whilst we were waiting, not
a bad day!
July 18th 2009
We attended a convention in Burbank. Amongst the celebrity
attendees were Henry Winkler, Lou Ferigno, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, Shannen Doherty, Taylor Dayne, Davy Jones, Barry Williams,
Chrstopher Knight, Susan Olsen, George Lazenby, Greg Evigan and Rosanna Arquette.
Henry Winkler was really nice, he went around shaking everybody's
hands whilst we were waiting in line and he wrote I was lovely on my photo, awwwww.
Lou Ferigno was HUGE! His hands were like bear paws
(so Cesar said!) He seemed shy though.
The Brady Bunch cast were very chatty and eager to pose for
photos and the Happy Days cast were all very nice especially Henry Winkler and Anson Williams (Potsie).
August 1st 2009
We attended a celebrity golf tournamnet held on Donald Trump's
course in Malibu. The event was star studded and amongst the attendees were Don Johnson, Michael Chiklis, Daniel Baldwin,
Jonathan Banks, Rick Dees, Joe Mantegna, Ron Perlman and more. It was a lovely sunny day, the golf course overlooked
the ocean and it was a beautiful place. All the celebrities were very friendly and posed for photos and signed autographs,
some of them weren't too bad at playing golf either!
Don Johnson had a bit of an attitude and said "Don't pull on me sweetheart" when
I tugged his sleeve!
Rick Dees gave me an oven glove which he signed "Karen, you are hot!" He
also gave Cesar a t-shirt from his radio show.
Bailey Chase from Ugly Betty managed to par his hole and when I congratulated
him he said he had done it just for me...awwwww!
Michael Chiklis from the Shield and Fantastic Four started speaking with an English
accent (which was not good) when he heard me speak. He said he liked spending time in England, obviously not enough
judging by his accent attempt!
August 22nd 2009
We attended a classic car show in Burbank and were pleased to see car enthusiast
Jay Leno as a guest. He was happy to sign autographs and pose for photos.
October 10th 2009
We attended the Hollywood Show convention in Burbank. Amongst the celebrities
in attendance were Sean Astin, Charisma Carpenter, Angela Cartwright, Claudia Christian, Patrick Duffy, Richard Hatch, Margot
Kidder, Peter Mayhew, Ray Park and Tiffany.
Everone was nice and friendly especially Tiffany and Ray Parks (he happens to
be English!) Ray asked me what I was doing in America and Cesar told him he had kidnapped me to which he replied
"That was a good kidnapping!"
Sean Astin heard my accent and asked me what "shire" I was from referring to "Lord
of the Rings" to which I replied "Yorkshire!" which he thought was funny!.
Tiffany said she liked my hair and said one of her favourite movies is "Calendar
Girls" which is set in Yorkshire and asked me if all Yorkshire women were like the characters in the movie!
November 11th 2009
We attended a dog adoption event in Melrose, Hollywood. Amongst the attendees
were Ed Begley Jr., Kelly Carlson, Jillian Clare, Carolyn Hennesy, Greg Germann and Emmanuelle Vaugier. There were some
really cute dogs up for adoption and I really wanted to take one home but decided not to, maybe next time!
November 21st 2009
We attended the CNN Heroes awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. We
were lucky enough to get Terrence Howard, Felicity Huffman, William H Macy and AnnaLynne Mccord before security told us not
to approach the stars. Damned mall cops!
November 29th 2009
We attended the Kodak Theatre for the show Dizzy Feet which featured stars from
dance shows and movies. Amongst the people in attendance were Mark Ballas, Lil C, Sheila E, Greg Evigan, Mitzi Gaynor,
Robert Hoffman, Derek Hough, Rick Malambri, Gilles Marini, Matthew Morrison,
Kayla Radomski and Nick Zano.
February 13th 2010
The first convention of 2010 we attended was the Hollywood
Show in Burbank. Amongst the guests were Terminator stars Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton and Robert Patrick. Also
legendary stars Jane Russell, Ernest Borgnine and Richard Chamberlain. We also got to meet Verne Troyer from the Austin
Powers movies, Larry Hagman from Dallas fame, Lindsay Wagner from the Bionic Woman and Stefanie Powers from Hart to Hart.
All the celebrities were pleasant and approachable, Linda Hamilton grabbed my
face and planted a kiss on my cheek. She said I had a lovely smile and to keep on smiling, she was a lovely woman!
Robert Patrick was in a funny mood and joked around with me (which Cesar did not
like!)
Jane Russell exclaimed she was eighty eight years old when I told her how good
she looked!
Larry Hagman was sat in what looked like a baby's high chair but adult sized,
don't know if he had a disability, he was very friendly.
Stefanie Powers told me she had a friend who owned a dance company in Yorkshire
England when I told her I was from there. When she learned I was English she began talking with a strange American/English
accent, Cesar found this very amusing!
Verne Troyer was so tiny! He told me he goes to England a lot for promotional
purposes, I got a lot of comments on my English accent at this convention.
April 12th 2010
We went to see the band "Them Crooked Vultures" which is a super group made up
of Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stoneage. We
were front row and the concert was very good, unfortunately the band would not sign afterwards. The concert was at the
Kimmel show and not all was lost as Nathan Fillion from "Castle" was there and he was nice enough to sign autographs and pose
for photos.
April 19th 2010
We attended a Cypress Hill concert at the Kimmel show and met the band after the
show, they were very nice and signed and posed for photos. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine was also there
playing with the band and he signed and posed for a photo as did rapper Young De. I was also happy to meet Alex O'Loughlin
from the show "Moonlight" and the upcoming movie "The Back Up Plan"
April 24th 2010
We attended the Hollywood Show in Burbank. Amongst the celebrity guests
we met were Emma Caulfield, Peter Fonda, Nicholas Hammond, Joe Lando, Ralph Macchio, Ryan O'Neal, Tatum O'Neal &
Charlene Tilton.
All were extremely nice especially Ryan O'Neal who was very down to earth and
friendly unlike his daughter Tatum who was also there. We obtained a signed photo from her but she would not pose for
a photo with me! She would only pose for "professional photos" provided by the venue.
Nicholas Hammond who played Spiderman and was also in The Sound of Music was super
nice, he had flown over from Australia to be at the show. Cesar asked him if he could see through the eyes of the Spiderman
suit and he said he could and that the lenses were tinted sunglasses. He seemed genuinely surprised when we said we
watched the Spiderman show when we were younger and said it meant a lot to him.
Charlene Tilton was very chatty, she told me she had lived in Reading, England
for a while and had done theatre and pantomime there. She said she loved my glasses and the colour of my jacket!
Peter Fonda was a nice guy he said he couldn't believe the Easy Rider movie was
so long ago, he said he had more hair back then!
Joe Lando was nice, he asked me where I was from and was shocked when I said England.
Cesar told him the usual story that he had kidnapped me and Joe said "I don't blame you!"
Ralph Macchio still looked like he did when he was in The Karate Kid! He
was a bit quiet, I don't think he has been in the limelight for a while. Cesar asked him how he felt about the
new Karate Kid movie and he said he didn't know, he hadn't seen it but it should be interesting.
Emma Caulfield was nice, she chatted about her time in Buffy and said she was
doing something new.
May 12th 2010
We were out and about in Hollywood and stumbled upon the cast of Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition doing a charity event. Tracy Hutson, Ed Sanders and Paul DiMeo were building a toy wood house outside
of the Hollywood and Highland complex and all signed and posed for a photo.
June 3rd 2010
We went to the Staples Center for the first game of the Lakers v. Celtics
final. We managed to get Donnie Wahlberg, Pat O'Brien and Rondell Sheridan. We were snubbed by a myriad of stars
including Sylvester Stallone and Stephen Spielberg. It is true to say that if a celebrity is not working, i.e at
a premiere or taping a chat show, they do not like to sign.
July 18th 2010
We went to a flea market hosted by radio D.J Rick Dees. Some celebrities
in attendance were Scott Elrod, Kiko Ellsworth, Boxer Mia St. John, Jenilee Harrison, Peter Kwong, Ken Davitan, Ice from American
Gladiators and Kate Linder. All were very nice and friendly and signed autographs and posed for pictures.
July 31st 2010
We attended a celebrity golf tournament at Donald Trump's course in Malibu. Amongst
those in attendance were Stephen Bauer, Chad Everett, Miguel Ferrer, Willie Gault, Robert Hays,
George Lopez, Mil Mascaras, Neal McDonough, Jack McGee, Brandon Molale, Michael Ironside, Ron Perlman, Travis Shultz,
Gary Valentine, Granville Van Dusen, Mykelti Williamson and Luke Wilson.
Everyone was very nice and all signed and posed for photos, no divas here!
Rick Dees was also there and he remembered my name from our meeting at his
flea market a few weeks ago, don't know if that is a good or bad thing!
October 9th 2010
We attended the Hollywood show in Burbank, amongst the celebrities attending were Mickey Dolenz, Barbara Eden, Sherilyn Fenn, Tippi Hedren, Nastassja
Kinski, Martin Klebba, Billy J. Kramer, Denny Laine, Ali MacGraw, Dale Midkiff, David Naughton and Peter Tork.
Everyone was very nice and friendly especially Ali MacGraw and Nastassja Kinski. Ali
and I chatted about England as she detected my accent and I also told her what lipstick to buy as she was complaining that
hers doesn't stay on for long! She also told me that I was a "very beautiful woman" nice!
Nastassja was very friendly, she gave me a hug and asked me to kiss her after the photo op,
my husband complained that she never asked him to kiss her!
Barbara Eden looked the same as when she was in I dream of Jeannie and had a very bubbly
personality.
David Naughton from An American Werewolf in London was surprised when I said I was from the
same area where the movie was filmed. He did the hand thing from the movie where he looks at it when he begins to change
into the werewolf, funny!
Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork were goofy, exactly as you would expect a Monkee to be!
Sherilyn Fenn told us that she had a bad back as "some idiot" threw her across the room when
she was filming a cable show and so asked me to kneel down next to her when I was having a photo taken with her.
Tippi Hedren seemed bored, Dale Midkiff was chatty, Billy J. Kramer and Denny Laine were
quiet and Martin Klebba was talking in an English accent when he heard mine.
October 19th 2010
We met Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi and A.J Buckley from CSI New York at the Grove in Hollywood.
Richie was the sweetest guy and signed and posed for photos with all the fans. He signed 3 cds and an index card for
me! We saw A.J when we were leaving the Grove, he was eating at a restaurant and was nice enough to sign an autograph
and pose for a photo.
October 27th 2010
We attended a mini concert performed by "A Perfect Circle" at the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Afterwards we got autographs and photos from the guitarist Billy Howerdel and bassist Matt McJunkins.
February 21st 2011
We headed off to the Grove in Hollywood to try and get one of my favourite bands, 30 Seconds
to Mars. We were in luck as we ran into Shannon Leto very quickly and he signed two of my cds and posed for a photo.
Tomo Milicevic arrived next and we missed the opportunity to get him as he walked very quickly away to an Italian restaurant
so we waited outside. Whilst we were waiting I saw Jared Leto walking towards us but he turned into the restaurant too
before we could get to him. The guys were at the Grove to do an interview for the tv show "Extra" so we waited around
until they had done their bit and then went to our usual place to try and get them on the way out.
Tomo came out first and he was nice enough to stop and sign then pose for a photo.
Shannon came past us next but we had already got him so we just said thanks and we waved and smiled. Cesar then spotted
Jared who was practically running so I headed him off, he had no choice but to stop as I was in the way! I asked if
he would sign my cd so he grabbed the cd and marker and started walking quickly away with me having to run after him.
He then turned around and gave me back the cd after he signed, I asked if he would pose for a photo but he ignored me and
ran to his car, charming! Luckily my hubby had managed to get a photo of us together when Jared reached for the
cd. Beforehand I had said to my hubby that Jared was pretentious and a snob so I was surprised he even signed!
March 10th 2011
We attended the premiere of Lincoln Lawyer which stars Matthew Mcconaughey and Ryan Phillippe.
I managed to get a photo with Ryan even though he was moving quickly down the line and said no photos to everyone. I
used my "I came all the way from England" line which got him to stop! I also managed to get a photo with Michael Pena
who was very gracious. Matthew on the other hand was somewhat of a diva and would not sign, he just moved down the line
and would only shake hands with everyone.
May 7th 2011
Today was free comic book day in LA and we stumbled across Walter Koenig, Chekhov from Star
Trek, Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher from Star Trek Next Generation and Tom Kenny (the voice of Spongebob) doing free signings
so I was very happy!
July 16th 2011
We attended the LAPD celebrity golf tournament at Donald Trump's course at Rancho Palos Verdes.
The celebrities were mainly the same ones as last year so it was a pretty poor showing. The main stars Luke Wilson and
Angie Everhart did not show, probably blaming "Carmageddon" the 405 shut down over that weekend. That was no excuse
as we travelled from the valley which is the same distance and using the same routes.
The celebrities that stuck out were Paula Trickey who said that everyone on the O.C sucked
except Peter Gallagher and another actress whom I can't remember. She said the rest were very self centered and stuck
up.
Erik Estrada seemed drunk, well that was the general opinion and when I approached him he
practically groped me and planted a big wet kiss on my cheek/neck, my husband was not best pleased!
July 17th 2011
We attended the Hollywood Show and the cast of Dynasty was there which was a treat for me
as I avidly watched that show as a teenager.
I had a long chat with Gordon Thompson who played Adam Carrington and he told me he was 38
when he got the part and was playing a 24 year old. He said Joan Collins was not pleased he got the part as he was too
old! She also told him that her feelings towards him were not maternal!
Maxwell Caulfield who played Miles Colby was there and he informed me he had been on the
soap Emmerdale which is filmed near where I lived in England and that he had performed at the Darlington Civic Theatre which
is about 12 miles from my old home. I did not know any of this and so it was nice to talk about home! It's a small
world!
I also got to meet three of the child stars from Willy Wonka and Julie Dawn Cole "Veruka
Salt" told me that she knew the small town I was from in England as she had friends there and had attended her friend's wedding,
small world again!
Adrian Paul from Highlander looked pretty much the same, he had not aged much and was very
nice, Billy Zane was as pretentious as I imagined he would be and was not in the best shape.
September 1st 2011
We ventured to the Grove in Hollywood as Cesar wanted to get the Laker Ron Artest.
Unfortunately he cancelled but we did spot Dancing With The Stars dancer Tony Dovolani so the day was not all lost.
September 7th 2011
We went to see 30 Seconds to Mars at San Manuel Indian casino and bumped into KROQ DJ Stryker
who was hosting.
December 31st 2011
We ventured over to Hollywood on New Year's Eve only to find out the Lakers were in town
and there was a game that day. We figured we would hang around outside the venue to celebrity spot and luckily we managed
to spot three, Dyan Cannon, Xzibit and Mario Lopez so not a bad end to the year!
January 8th 2012
We went to watch a Laker's game and ran into Laker's assistant coach and former player Darvin
Ham and also newscaster and former Green Bay Packer Jim Hill.
