What famous people have you met/are related to?

[captainjack]

I know some of you hotblooded liberals have managed to get your hands on some famous people - name em! Are you related to anyone famous?

I live a very prosaic life and want to live vicariously through the experiences of others!

Can you tell I took the GRE recently? :)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Ok-

I've shaken hands with George McGovern in '72, ate a picnic lunch and dinner fundraiser with the late great Sen. Paul Simon and am related to these famous folks:

Grover Cleveland
John Quincy Adams
John Adams
Samuel F.B. Morse
Anne Foster, one of the condemned witches of Salem MA

[Nikia]

14. I am related to Grover Cleveland too

He was my great-great grandmother's uncle. Maybe, we are cousins.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

38. Hi cuz!

Yep, we are. Our mutual ancestor would be Moses Cleveland, I believe.

[St. Jarvitude]

28. I shook hands with Mr. Al Gore

It was brief, but I met him at the campaign rally in Chicago in the 2000 selection. It is #1 on the greatest experiences of my 16-year life.

[clydefrand]

2. Only one person who is well-known

I met Tom Brokaw in Outer Mongolia in July '97. He was visiting after the handover of Hongkong to China. He was at the embassy where I was visiting with my friend whose daughter was working there. She was having a 71st birthday party for her mother, and he and others traveling with him were invited to attend. He was there with his wife, also. Also saw him the next day where he sat behind us to watch the wrestling match for their holidays called Naadam??sp. Actually, he was very personable. Very easy to talk with.

[Geek_Girl]

3. Hmm

I've shook hands with Al Gore at a fund raiser, met Dick Van Dyke and a few not so famous actors, thats all I can think of. But don't know anyone famous personally

[MrScorpio]

4. I'm related to Joe Louis, Heavyweight Champeen o' dah World!!

My Great-Uncle

I've shaken hands with too many people to mention

[soupkitchen]

20. I shook hands with Joe Lewis when I was a little boy

On a train going from Philadelphia to New York.

[brook]

22. OMG!

I loved him! Used to listen to his bouts on the radio and my Dad always let me bet him a quarter that Joe would win. Made my Dad teach me a little bit of boxing, I did - when I was maybe 6 or 7. Great memories.

[flyingfysh]

5. Davy Crockett

5th great grandfather was his brother. The family had a letter from Davy until a few decades ago about his plans to stop by in Arkansas on his way to Texas (you know what happened to him there), but it got lost.

[Kolesar]

6. I saw the back of Pat Buchanan's head today

It was just a few hours ago at the assembly at Case Western Reserve University. How is that for a brush with greatness?

[kmla]

72. Did you thump on it like a melon?

Prolly woulda sounded hollow if ya had...

[flyingfysh]

7. you took the GRE?

I hope you put it back. Theft isn't nice.

[maveric]

8. I waited on John Travolta, Gerry Ford, Howard Cosell, BarryGoldwater...

David Steinberg, Ann Margaret, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Woody Hayes, Merlin Olsen and Walter Mathau as a room service waiter at the Omni International Hotel in Miami, 1977-78.

I shook Poppy Bu$h's hand during the early primaries in 1979. He had a very cold and clammy hand with a limp wristed shake. Very creepy.

[captainjack]

9. OMG this is awesome!

keep em coming folks! fun stuff here :)

[EstimatedProphet]

10. King Duncan and King Malcolm from MacBeth

Distant ancestors...

[TheCentepedeShoes]

21. You, too? n/t

[eyesroll]

11. I have touched the following people:

John Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards
Howard Dean
Dennis Kucinich
Russ Feingold
Herb Kohl
Numerous Congresspeople, including most of Wisconsin's Democrats and candidates (and Jim Sensenbrenner :puke:)
Michael Moore
Various and sundry second-string athletes at school assemblies and such

I used to be related to Eddie Vedder by marriage -- his ex-wife Beth is a distant cousin (so distant I've never met her).

[Lost147]

12. I'm related to

Benedict Arnold, and Former President Calvin Coolidge.

[eridani]

33. Cousin Lost! I'm related to Arnold also.

My great-aunt found out doing research to prove she was entitled to be in the DAR--at least one ancestor must have served in the Revolutionary Army. Which applies to Arnold--no sub-clauses about leaving under unfortunate circumstances apply.

[derrald]

13. Leonardo DiCaprio -related

Met Jennifer Garner and am not a close friend, but she'd remember my name if she saw me - if that makes sense

[Nikia]

15. I have run with the American record holder in the women's steeplechase

She was good in high school, but has done much better than any of us expected.

[LynneSin]

16. I'm a distant cousin to a chimp in the White House

:eyes:

Related through the Walkers

[noonwitch]

47. You being here implies your side of the family got the smart genes

Hopefully, the evil genes come from Prescott Bush!

[Tom Kitten]

17. Let's see...

politicians
I shook hands with President Ford twice when he visited Portland...I didn't vote for him, though!
I've met Neil Goldschmidt and Bud Clark (the "expose yourself to art" poster boy) both when they were mayors of Portland, but they're rather local...Goldschmidt did become Secretary of Transportation under Carter and Oregon's governor, though...lately he became infamous for admitting to an affair with a 14 year old girl so I don't boast about this...

actors
I met the actress Marlee Matlin when she was filming a movie here...She came into the comic book store I was moonlighting in and bought a copy of The Amazing Spiderman #1 for her fiancee...for a thousand dollars! She was very nice.
I met Gus Van Sant when he and I appeared on a local access cable tv show...he was promoting his first feature film "Mala Noche"...

sports
I walked past Bill walton once and he looked at me and I said "hi" once...
I met Willis Reed and then the rest of the 1972 New York Knicks world champions team at the PDX Airport...we handed them daffodils, Walt Frazier was really cool and Phil Jackson was aloof...We were in high school and part of the tradition was to go hang out at the airport in our costumes and hand out flowers to anyone we saw there!

music
here it goes downhill I've known and met so many because my cousin and her husband ran a barand one of my best friends ran the sound board...and rock and roll fame is so fleeting...I'd say Kurt Cobain was the best known...he was quiet and self depreciating the only time I met him, a tendency I noticed for most of the Portland and Seattle bands in the late 80s...

Famous relatives
I'm related to Hetty Green, who is in the Guiness Book of Records as the "World's Most Miserly Person"...she was my grandma's aunt...
Also Ulysses Grant, a great general but lousy president...

that's all!

[Obamarama]

18. Here's my list:

RELATED TO:

- My great, great grandfather was Frederick Law Olmsted - "father of American landscape architecture" (designed Central Park, US Capitol grounds, Biltmore Mansion grounds, to name a few)

- George Washington Gale Ferris - inventor of the Ferris Wheel.

- My great grandfather Francis Burke-Roche was the twin brother of Edmond Burke Roche, great grandfather of Princess Diana.

- Also related to actor Oliver Platt through the Burke-Roche family connection.

[miss_kitty]

19. All the Governors of Washington state from Rosellini (the late 50s)

through Lowery (90s) excepting Dixie Lee Ray and John Spellman (Rosellini, Evans, Gardner, Lowery) Senators Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson. Lenny Wilkins, Bill Russell...I think-oh yeah Rhea Perlman walked past me one day in Seattle, Lenny Henry at Valerie's in Leicester Square (an amazing English comedian-well known in UK) and Chris Barrie (Rimmer in red Dwarf) in a pub across from the BBC after seeing him in a hilarious radio taping at the Beeb a friend wrote. All I can think of.

On Edit: These are people I've met-if I'm related to anyone famous, it's news to me- some of my friends are closely related to famous people I've never met.

[Tom Kitten]

24. Quite an impressive list!

Now why did you leave out Dixie Lee? :D

[miss_kitty]

26. My folks HATED HER GUTS and did nothing to help elect her

She was a total asshole. She called herself a Dem, but she was more like a whore for atomic energy-bad very bad. Reminiscent of the Thugs in power. John Spellman was an ineffectual repug.

Dan Evans is a Republican, and a 3 term governor here in a mainly Democratic state. He is brother-in-law to one of my dad's best friends. Dad was Chief Parole Officer under Rosellini. My folks were active, old-fashioned, party-throwing, fund-raising dems...

:D

[Tom Kitten]

30. Relax...I agree!

I remember the dartboard with her at the center with her quote: "Nuclear power is infinitely safer than eating food because thousands of people choke to death each year eating food yet not one person has died from nuclear power"...


Remember when she was governor when Mt. St. helens blew big time in 1980? Her answer to Carter...."We (fistpound) Need (fistpound) Money! (fistpound)

I'm sure you do....I just thought I'd post because you've been lamenting so much lately about the lack of replies you have...I might be somewhat imbecilic in my overall knowledge politically but at least I try and have learned since I've been here! I do read your posts!

[miss_kitty]

32. oh i'm relaxed

i saw your smilie-i realised you KNEW what a pig at the trough she was! :D

Thanks for reading my posts, Count Floyd-I read yours too!

[huntsvilledem]

23. Stephen King

he married someone from my huge family.. so not really related but still.. close as I can get!

[TheCentepedeShoes]

25. Got a late 1600's

Governor of NC (or might have been just "Carolina" then - can't remember when N and S split) in the line. The CIA took over his former plantation on Albermarle Sound.

[gmoney]

27. BRIEFLY met a fair number of musicians

Met briefly and got signatures from Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Robert Smith (the Cure), the Pixies (back in the day!), Penn & Teller, Ann Magnuson/Bongwater, Robyn Hitchcock, Matthew Sweet, Crowded House (take that FinnFan), Camper Van Beethoven, and many lesser-known bands.

Snubbed Billy Joel once to get Christie Brinkley's autograph...

Went to school with a guy who was the "Twisted Sister" vampire in "The Lost Boys" and a woman who was an actress in "Salvador", "Caribe", and "Me & Him".

Shook hands with John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, and James Brown, but not all at the same time.

I have this feeling I'm leaving someone out...

[joeybee12]

29. Sad to say, I've met Rodney Dangerfield a couple times...

...just at what used to be the Sports Connection in West Hollywood. Just chit-chat. Poor Rodney!

[mitchum]

31. Josef Mengele

or maybe that was just my old dentist

[the Princess]

34. I'm a distant relative of Frank Sinatra

However - I am also an Italian girl from Jersey and every Italian in Jersey is a "Distant" relative of Frankie!! LOL

[JimmyJazz]

60. Can't get enoughof us, huh?

Good morning to ya! :hi:

[the Princess]

70. I think I'm addicted already

And that picture of Strummer is gonna kill me! He looks delicious. :)

Good to see you again!!

[JimmyJazz]

76. I've gotta million of 'em - I have one that is extra tasty, but

I can't figure out how to convert it - as soon as I do, you will be the first to know!

[JimmyJazz]

77. Guess what I found!!!

P.S. to captain: Sorry for the high jack, but don't you have 99 more threads to post anyway? :7

[Squeegee]

35. Douglas Adams, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gregory Hines...

Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Cake.

The first four I met at various Apple Computer related events, Metallica and Cake I met backstage at the California Music Awards.

[jessicazi]

36. hmmm...

I have met John Kerry, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader (all in Idaho...)
When I was a baby, a soapstar from All My Children (can't remember her name, but she was older) held me and my mom got a picture...I have also met Cindi Rinehart who does a soap show in Seattle (local celeb). I have also met a lot of local Seattle athletes through the years, who would play in a celebrity golf tournament in my city.

I am sure I am related to a few famous people, but the only one I remember right now is the Sundance Kid.

J

[yvr girl]

37. I have a relative in the history books, but he's not famous

I've met:

Joe Clark - former PM of Canada
Gil Gerard - Buck Rogers
Most of the Vancouver Canucks including management types
Bobby Orr
Lanny McDonald
Wayne Gretzky
Eric Lindros
Joe Sakic
(Can't recall the others - 1996 World Cup Hockey Team)
Michael Moriarty (Law & Order years ago)
Payne Stewert
Cathy Crosby
Prince Charles and Princess Diana (had dinner with them)

[JimmyJazz]

59. hockey fan, eh?

:7

[yvr girl]

75. As a good Canadian, yes. But...

Most of my celeb encounters including the hockey ones come courtesy of my involvement in a PGA golf tournament. I helped organize special events which included the non-golf related aspects of the Pro-Am events.

[NamVetsWeeLass]

39. lol I am supposedly Scots royalty...

Which here means that and $1.20 will get me a cup of coffee...I have bloodlines to Robert DeBroos... You may know him from the rather contrived "Braveheart" which painted him as a real bastard. in the Movie he was Robert the 17th Earle of DeBroos... and Yeah it is DeBroos. Not "the Bruce" as so many have tried to lay on me LOL. Anyway, He did more for Scots Freedom than Wallace did,but since Wallace really was Martyred, he is given more credit... (thanks Mel, are you going to take me to court now as well?) I do love the movie despite the inaccuracy. Come on, Guys in Kilts, with Bagpipes??? Rock on! Other than that I have a Semi-Pro Wrestler in my family tree as well. (yay.) on ed: My husband is related to Daniel Boone, he is a distant cousin... the Family bible has his name in it, and yeah, it is THE Daniel Boone.
I also went to school with Bret Michaels (lead singer of Hairband Posion)Cousin.

[Wat_Tyler]

49. I always thought it was De Brus.

Of course, I am the supreme global authority on all history, so I forgive you your ignorance.

[lgreen]

79. You too?

I am also related to Robert De Brus through my grandmother. SOmewhere along that side of the familt was Mary, Queen of Scots. Another member of that side of the family was John Knox.

As for more immediate family... my great-grandfather Alfred Green has a star on Hollywood Blvd- he was a silent film director- and my great-grandmother Virginia Hilton was a silent movie star. She was Glenda the Good Witch and Ozma in the silent Wizard of Oz movies.

[Spider Jerusalem]

40. I met Bill Clinton in 1995...

when he spoke in Warm Springs, GA on the 50th anniversary of FDR's death. And I met Morgan Freeman last year, in Mississippi.

And, relatives: My 3rd great-aunt married Mathew Brady (notable early photographer...many of his portraits of Lincoln are quite famous)...and the "Mark Trail" comic strip (which I rather dislike) was created by a cousin of mine (something like 2nd or 3rd cousin plus x removes). And Robert E Lee is a third cousin at several removes, and Thomas Jefferson is also a (rather distant, obviously) cousin.

[No Passaran]

41. My 3rd cousin won an oscar for Best Foreign Movie

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&cf=gen&id=1807485012

I've met Tom Berenger, Drew Barrymore, Krist Novoselic and of course living in Charlotte, NC I've met Ric Flair

[daddybear]

42. I was a newspaper editor...

so I managed through the years to meet a few folks like
* Marty Robbins
* Richard Petty
* Ronald Reagan
* Richard Boone
* Kenny Rogers (won a lookalike contest)
and many others i.e. governors, senators, etc.
No one famous in my family though.. just me hehehe

[rockymountaindem]

43. My family believes that we are related to Leon Blum,

the first socialist Prime Minister of France.

It's a long story and I don't have time to tell the whole thing, but the wierd part is that we have absolutely *no* French ancestry. But neither did ol' Uncle Leon (which I guess is how I'm related to him).

[dolo amber]

44. Loretta Lynn's gran

and my great-gran were sisters. :hi:

[miss_kitty]

61. that makes you 1st cousins, once removed!

that's pretty doggone close! (genealogy in my past)

[Charon]

45. I have met

Bishop Mitsui Fuchida
Elroy Hersch

[noonwitch]

46. I'm a Mayflower descendant

I descend on my dad's side from Richard Warren, who had the most descendants of all the colonists. The Roosevelts also descended from him, but I've never known any of them, it's a very distant kinship.

My maternal grandfather, Alfred Kavalar, invented the camloc ratchet wrench. He was famous in Detroit for a day when he met Werner von Braun. When the original rocket experiments were being done, they kept exploding from leaky fuel tanks. My grandpa was working on the wrench, and sent one of the prototypes to NASA. They used it on the fuel tank bolts, and it worked, so Werner von Braun came to Detroit to meet my grandpa. Grandpa is still alive and kicking at 91, and still fixes and makes things in his garage-machine shop. He had some chrome-plated wrenches made for each of his grandchildren in the early 60s-I still have mine.

When I was at a party at WMU, I met Sinbad before he was Sinbad. He tried to teach me how to play Hearts when I'd had a few too many glasses of wine. He didn't go to Western, but was from Benton Harbor, which was about 45 minutes from K-zoo and had friends who were students there.

I met Anne Rice at a book signing. She was really nice and seems to enjoy meeting her fans. I felt really bad for her last year when her husband died-they were college sweethearts who had been married a long time. Her books after 1990 or so are not as good as her earlier work-my favorite is "The Witching Hour", despite the ending.

[Wat_Tyler]

48. THE GUY WHO DANCED BALLET FOR THE FALL!

(totally undeserving of capitalization)

Other than that, my claims are all small fry. Edwyn 'A Girl Like You' Collins is a distant cousin, apparently. Someone upthread claimed Joe Clark, so I guess I can too. Oh. I met Teenage Fanclub and a few of the guys from Belle and Sebastian a few times. That's about it, really.

[CO Liberal]

50. I'm a Distant Cousin to James Joyce

Joyce was my mother's maiden name.

And in 1971, I covered a book signing in Morristown, NJ for my high school radio station. It was for Jean Sheppard, who had just written "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories". He was just as warm and friendly in person as he sounded when he narrated the movie "A Christmas Story", which was based on many of his short stories.

[pagerbear]

51. Isadora Duncan

...if my grandmother, who suffered delusions of grandeur, is to be believed.

[Skeet]

52. I met

Al Unser Sr. at the first Indy 200 at Disney World.
I met Rick Pitino when he came to my high school. That was before he committed his unforgivable crime against Kentucky.
I met Adam Duritz after a Counting Crows show in Oxford, OH.
I met pro wrestler Kerry Von Erich before some matches at the Louisville Gardens. That was about a year before he killed himself.
I got my picture taken with pro wrestler Jeff Jarrett years before he made it big.
I've met Graham Colton of the Graham Colton Band a couple of times.

That's all I can remember right now.

[XNASA]

53. I once shook hands with Ali.

He got out of a Rolls on State Street just as I was walking by, so I walked up to him and shook his hand. I swear, I was only about 20 feet away when he pulled up, and by the time I got to him he was surrounded by at least a dozen other pedestrians.

I've met quite a few rock stars.......but the only one who sticks out in my mind is John Lydon, though he was half asleep/in the bag when I met him.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

54. Let's see

Off the top of my head, I've met Jamie Farr, Umberto Eco, Danny Glover, Weird Al Yankovic, Jacques Derrida, Terry Camilleri (the guy who played Napoleon in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), Jerry Brown, and Isabel Allende.

But my aunt had dinner with Elvis and followed Bill Cosby into the men's room at a casino.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

55. Hmm...

Met:

-Duran Duran (1987 concert in Modena, Italy);
-U2: all four (outside the Hotel Baglioni in Bologna, Italy; 1987)
-Jeff Gordon (yum!) in 2002;
-the late Ayrton Senna (F1 driver) long long time ago (when I was 10 or so);
-John Edwards (multiple times while I was in NC);
-Former NC Sen. Jesse Helms (yikes!);
-Jude Law (just the other day, crossing the street around the Plaza Hotel as I was going to the subway; nice guy, but short!);
-Julianne Moore (strolling on the Brooklyn Bridge with her kids and hubby).

Related:

-possibly Alexandra Romanova, last tsarina of Russia (it's very difficult to do precise genealogical research when you are Italian in Italy).

[scarlet_owl]

56. I'm related to Diego Rivera. That's the only famous person

I'm related to that I know of. I met various St. Louis Cardinals players as a child, but I don't really remember. My mother and my aunt have met tons of famous people. My mom used to work at the Busch stadium Club (my aunt still does), and lots of famous folks were members there.

[dancing kali]

63. Diego Rivera?

Cool. Love his murals. Love his wife's work even more.

[Elginoid]

57. great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Sam Houston

(i think it's 5 greats...)

[JimmyJazz]

58. Oh dude - not going for another hundred are we?

Not to tell tales out of school:

The Who
The Clash
David Johannsen
Geroge Thorogood
Steve Marriott
Scott Gregory (Olympian)
Peter Carruthers (Olympian)
Big Country (very briefly)
Bobby Clark
Rick Tocchet
Peter Zezel


I think that's it...

[dr.strangelove]

62. I am related to Alexander Hamilton

We are in a direct line down from the first Sec. of the Treasury.

[flvegan]

64. How about used to be famous?

Sort of...
Went backstage and met The Cult (Sonic Temple tour) and then hung out with Matt Sorum in his hotel room;
Hung out and had drinks with the guys from Warrant (please, I know the error of my ways);
Talked with Hulk Hogan while riding Waverunners;
I previously and currently share gym time with a number of pro wrestlers. I see The Big Show about once a week at the gym.

[BlueNomad]

65. okay

Have met

Walter Mondale
Cher (served her ice cream--she ordered strawberry and chocolate chocolate chip)
Bill O Reilly (went to the K School with him and he was a blowhard then too)
Jesse Jackson
George Bush, Sr (he is an evil man, do not bother asking)

[hyphenate]

66. Well,

I worked in the entertainment industry for almost 10 years, and met a lot of people there, but none so significant to me as some of the others I've met.

Back in about 1985, I met Mike Dukakis. I lived in Mass., and he was our governor, and a damned good one. In fact, I lived on the same street (albeit some 7 blocks separated the two house) as he did.

During the DNC week here, a friend and I got to meet Al Franken at Government Center, which was especially cool. We also got to see Terry McAuliffe, Chris Matthews, Tom Oliphant, and some of the delegates.

We met John Kerry back in September at his presidential nomination announcement at Faneuil Hall.

Significant persons in Entertainment: I was heavily involved with the animal rights movement when I was in L.A., and attended quite a few of the Genesis Awards, which had a lot of actors involved. Too many to name, though. But a highlight was meeting Scott Hamilton, the skater, at one of the events.

I also met Mr. Barbra Streisand, James Brolin, one day.

No relatives in politics or show business, except distantly.

[sangh0]

67. I am distantly related to Kitty Carlisle

of "What's My Line" fame.

I've met several famous people - The Grateful Dead (most members), Chuck Schumer, etc but the most notable encounter was the one I had with Miles Davis, who I didn't recognize at the time.

[Chovexani]

68. Mary J. Blige is my cousin

A couple times removed on the ghetto side of my family.

[HEyHEY]

69. Dick Dale, Drew Bledsoe, Gino Odjick, Christie Clark (famous here)

Mike Pinera..... that's all I remember for now.

[skygazer]

71. Shook Howard Dean's hand

back when he was Gov. of Vermont. Have met both Pat Leahy and Jim Jeffords (Vermont is such a small state that you really do have a chance to meet your reps. It's great).

I'm related to Ethan Allen and Oliver Wolcott, who signed the Declaration of Independence. And if you go way back, I'm descended from King John of England, which makes me related to people like William the Conqueror and Eleanor of Aquitaine as well as just about every royal house in Europe (since they were all inbred).

[Kadie]

73. Jesse James.

Related to, have never met him of course. :-)

[flvegan]

74. I am the brother in law of The Sasquatch

There was an abduction...long story.

[mvd]

78. I'm related to Luke Petitgout of the New York Giants

He's an offensive lineman and a cousin. My grandmother was adopted so there's no close relationship by blood, but my mom's research shows that there could be a distant relationship by blood. But a cousin is still a cousin.

I have met Mondale and Ferarro, and got close to Clinton. Also have met some sports personalities: Frank Robinson and Joe Theisman among them. Theisman let me wear his Super Bowl ring, and he signed a Redskins record I wore out as a kid.

[gollygee]

80. I met David Letterman

He was doing a show back in the 80s in my town and advertised for young women to work in the show. I didn't work but I did have a lengthy conversation with him. He was very nice.

I'm not related to anyone famous.