What Was Your Most Interesting Celebrity Encounter?

They're the stories that reliably make a splash at a party, dinner or any other gathering the times we've had a run-in with a celebrity. It can be a moment we tell to people for years afterward, even if its something as mundane as being asked to make change for the parking meter, a story where the bigger-than-life intersects with our own ordinary-seeming lives.

We've been disusing our celebrity encounters in the AE breakroom where the hot topic of discussion has been: What was your most interesting celebrity encounter?

Dennis Ayers

I lived in LA for six years and have a lot of friends in the entertainment industry, so I guess I've seen a lot of celebrities, but maybe the most amusing was Faye Dunaway.

My partner and I had gone to see a movie at the Beverly Center cineplex, and we were standing maybe five deep in line at the concession stand to get some popcorn before our film started. Suddenly Faye swept by everyone in the line, slapped her hand down on the glass and demanded the girl behind the counter wait on her.

To her everlasting credit, the girl behind the counter seemed completely unfazed. "You know there's a line, right?" She said, pointing to all of us queued up.

"My film is about to start. Do you know who I am?!"

"Yeah. Mommy Dearest. And you still have to wait in line like everybody else."

Seeing Ms. Dunaway storm off without her drink was pretty priceless.

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Brent Hartinger

Years ago, Michael and I were traveling by plane with a connection in Minneapolis. Because our first leg was late, we had to rush to catch the next flight. We made it in time, but the rest of the plane had already boarded. This was shortly after 9/11, so security was very tight. People who boarded planes at the last minute were subject to greater scrutiny. We were pulled aside to be searched.

But we weren't alone. Another couple had arrived late too: Mary Tyler Moore, in town for an anniversary tribute to her show, and her husband. Frankly, they were both very put out by the inconvenience — and, frankly, I thought they had a point. The entire flight, I couldn't get out of my head the image of Mary Tyler Moore hijacking the plane and piloting it into a downtown building. "Eat THIS, WJM!"

As it happens, Mary was wearing thigh-high leather boots. Since we all had to take off our shoes for inspection, she had to take off these boots. But that was easier said than done, especially in a short skirt. I was sitting right across from her as she struggled to remove the boots, and while I can report she didn't pull a full "Britney Spears," let's just say that right then, it wasn't her smile that she was turning the world on with!

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