AWESOME ENCOUNTERS SAGA 4:

FAMOUS PEOPLE I'VE MET OR SEEN IN MY LIFE:


1996:  Saw WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR LEON PANETTA (now, Secretary of Defense) walking on my street on Capitol Hill, two doors from my house. 

He told me he had just moved-in across the street.

1997:  I was parked near the Capitol Building when HOUSE SPEAKER TOM FOLEY parked behind me in his new Lincoln. He admired my 4-door, convertible '66 Lincoln and we talked about it.

1998:  Offered JOHN WATERS a cough drop at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival keynote address.

1999:  My '66 Lincoln Continental Convertible, being driven by my mechanic Doug in DC, went by where TOM CRUISE was filming 'Minority Report'. 

He noticed it and said, "Neat car!" Too bad I wasn't there! (So I had to include a picture!)

1999:  I've seen JOHN & SARAH BRADY several times here in Rehoboth Beach as they live here now.

2000:  Talked to RUTH ANN MINNER at her fundraiser. We chatted about my mother. 

She WAS elected DE Governor.

2003:  Went to a Democrat fundraiser where U.S. CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK spoke. 

I shook his hand! 

2005:  Went to a party where DE STATE TREASURER JACK MARKELL spoke. Had my picture taken with him. 

He has become governor.

AWESOME ENCOUNTERS SAGA 3:

FAMOUS PEOPLE I'VE MET OR SEEN IN MY LIFE:

1982:  Emmy Award-winning actor ANTHONY ZERBE (Harry-O, The Matrix series) came to my house for cocktails with his wonderful wife Arnette. 

click to see: ANTHONY ZERBE in THE YOUNG RIDERS

She and I had become great friends during my Italian study tour. Their daughter, Jenny, was debuting with the American Ballet Company at the Kennedy Center. So they had come from Santa Barbara for the performance. Afterward, Jenny and several of the troupe including PRIMA BALLERINA ASSOLUTA CYNTHIA GREGORY joined us for dinner. 

click to see: CYNTHIA GREGORY'S AURORA

Unfortunately, though invited, Mikhail Barisnikoff couldn't make it.

1984:  Sat next to FRED BARNS, commentator, on an airplane. 

He barely even looked at me, let alone speak.

1984:  Was sweeping my front walk when I noticed a black car and two men in black suits standing in front of the house two doors down. Soon FIRST LADY NANCY REAGAN descended down the front stairs after seeing her astrologer! 

Happened to see the car twice more.

1984:  Met CHRIS WALLACE on the bus going to the Pyramids of Egypt. 

We spoke briefly; he was on vacation.

1986:  Saw KATHERINE HEPBURN and CHRISTOPHER REEVE in "A Matter of Gravity" on Broadway.

1986:  Saw MAGGIE SMITH in "The Infernal Machine," a nondescript play in London—We went just to see Ms. Smith.

1987:  KELLY McGILLIS sat down next to me in 'Hair', a salon on Capitol Hill. 

She was appearing at the Folger Shakespeare Theater. She graciously signed 12 "Top Gun" pieces.

1988:  I was looking out my window when PRESIDENT AND MRS. CLINTON passed by in their motorcade after their inaugural ball at DC's Union Station.

1991:  While touring Hollywood, I was sightseeing at Tom Cruise's home when I heard NICOLE KIDMAN behind the walls of their compound calling her dog to come inside.

1993:  At the Palm Springs Film Festival, I saw TONY CURTIS (who was there for an award), JANET LEIGH and JAMIE LEE CURTIS. Then DELTA BURKE, dressed all in white including a floor length white fur, got out of a new stretch, white Rolls-Royce with her husband, GERALD RAINER. 

1995:  My next-door neighbor was CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, political writer/commentator (Vanity Fair, etc.).

Next, PART FOUR.

AWESOME ENCOUNTERS SAGA 2:

FAMOUS PEOPLE I'VE MET OR SEEN IN MY LIFE:

1972:  At a show on Broadway, GINA LOLLABRIGETTA sat near me. She was jeered due to her real leopard coat!

1972:  After seeing ANGELA LANDSBURY in the Broadway play "Our World", we saw her get into her limo.

1972:  Sat behind FLORENCE HENDERSON on a train to NYC. 

I stared, she glared.

1974:  I visited JOE VALACHI, the Mafia boss, in his secure cell in Milan, MI. 

He had a million dollars on his head.

1976:  Was having dinner by myself at an outdoor restaurant in D.C. when the fairly drunk guy of the couple next to me said, "Don't you know me? And this is the famous SALLY QUINN!" 

Well, I realized it was BEN BRADLEE, Editor of the 'Washington Post'. 

I, for once, was speechless!

1979:  Saw the 10th anniversary parade on Constitution Ave. of the astronauts who first went to the moon, NEIL ARMSTRONG, JOHN GLENN, ET AL.

1980:  While in NYC receiving an award at the Waldorf-Astoria for the solar design of my Bastrop, Texas prison, I saw PRESIDENT ELECT AND MRS. REAGAN coming out of the hotel on their way to visit their son Ron. (That evening, December 8, directly across Central Park from me, John Lennon was shot and killed.)

1982:  While on a 4-month stay/study in Florence, Italy, I met GEORGE McGOVERN in Venice's 'Harry's Bar.'

AWESOME ENCOUNTERS SAGA:

FAMOUS PEOPLE I'VE MET OR SEEN IN MY LIFE:


I, Don Voth, started a list of famous people I've met or seen through the years. Thinking you might find it interesting, I decided to blog it. (The italicized ones I met or at least had eye contact with.)


1948:  When PRESIDENT HARRY S. TRUMAN was running for re-election, he was campaigning in his presidential stretch '39 Lincoln V-12 in a motorcade in Oklahoma City. 

He didn't see me and I thought he should. So, I yelled at him and he turned around and waved at me! I was seven.

1952:  Shook hands with •JIMMY STEWART at the National Air Show in Oklahoma City.

1956:  Talked to and shook hands with •FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT at an Oklahoma University Architecture School lecture. I was in high school.

click to see: F. Ll. W. documentary

1962:  At my graduation from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, •DEAN RUSK, Kennedy's Secretary of State, was the keynote speaker and shook my hand as I received my diploma.

1965:  Shook hands with •ARCHITECT MIES VAN DER ROHE on a tour of Chicago with my OU Architecture School senior class.

1966:  Saw 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' with TAMMY GRIMES.

1966:  During the filming of 'Throughly Modern Mille', I saw JULIE ANDREWS decend a brownstone's staircase in NYC.

1968:  Went to a White House lawn reception for my cousin, QUEEN ELIZABETH II. Asked FIRST LADY 'LADY BIRD' JOHNSON to pose for a photograph. It was excellent—I sent it to her. (I never heard from her!)

1969:  Saw BETTE MIDLER singing, with BARRY MANILOW playing the piano, in a New York City cabaret.

1970:  I saw STARKWEATHER  in a state penitentiary while doing Technical Assistance for Nebraska. 

1970:  •ME on the cover of 'Time' magazine regarding the popularity of ship cruising. 

Albeit I appeared very tiny because shown was the entire deck of the ship with about 600 people! Talked to •PRINCE EGON VON FURSTENBERG.

Next, More to come.