Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Dropped Names, Part III


Last week when I wrote the blog entry a few hours before the 86th annual Academy Awards, I planned to watch the show, as I mentioned. I even talked two young colleagues, Ben and Peter, into coming over at 3:00 AM to watch with me. I got up at 2:45 AM, prepared the Oscar-watching food, the two young ones showed up, and then we spent 90 minutes flipping channels trying to find the Oscars! Ben tried to live-stream them, all to no avail! So, ultimately, there was no Oscar-watching this year…such a shame, oh well, but not tragic…but I did decide that this next edition of “Dropped Names” should feature some of the Oscar winners and nominees I have bumped into (of course, I have already mentioned Al Pacino, Sissy Spacek, George Clooney, Whoopi Goldberg, Helen Hayes and Olivia de Havilland). So let’s see…let’s start with an Oscar winner whose birthday I share—that would be Susan Sarandon.

Susan Sarandon        Way back at Christmas time in 1994, I attended the new A Christmas Carol playing at Madison Square Garden, and who should be sitting beside me, but Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and their children! One unusual costuming note: Susan and Tim were dressed all in black (naturally, in New York) and their children were all in white. Hmmm… Obviously I would think of reasons to turn to my right, discreetly, over the next two hours and check their reactions. I didn’t bother them, but I did love looking at Susan’s gorgeous skin. Ten years later I found myself next to Ms. Sarandon again, at a basketball game, between Hackley School and Dalton (the school where their little children grew up to attend). I almost commented to Ms. Sarandon that we had sat beside each other years ago, but reasoned that she would just stare at me a la Sissy Spacek. I almost told her that we shared the same October 4th birthday, but in the end, I just sat and cheered when Hackley scored. I was such a non-plussed celeb watcher!

Daniel Day Lewis      This three-time Oscar winner and I were out at the same restaurant one summer night in 2011 in Greenwich Village. I was with the Unger family, one of my favorites in the world, and we noted that we had come in at the same time as Daniel D-L, and just kind of kept watch of him throughout dinner. I made sure we crossed paths, one more time as we left, and he commented to me, “Mate, we came and left at the same time!” I nodded and smiled, again, such a jaded, non-plussed celeb star-gazer!

Sigourney Weaver     The autumn of 1994, when I moved to New York to be a Klingenstein fellow, was a goldmine of celeb sightings—and that fall I went to Brearley School to see a musical. I found myself in line to enter behind a tall, stylish woman, who, wait-a-minute, this was Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver! I noted that no one acted like they saw the Brearley mom there, but I could also tell that everyone there knew exactly where she was that evening!

Glenn Close   I saw multiple-nominee Glennie jogging in Central Park once, but my favorite encounter with Ms. Close was at a donut shop in Armonk—a shop known for its unbelievably good and in-demand donut treats. The shop had a rule that one could only buy one bag a visit at the shop of the donuts, and Glenn, two people in front of me, pleaded that she wanted more. The weary clerk sighed and responded, “Ms. Close—you know the policy!” I almost volunteered to sell her my bag of the donuts!

Candice Bergen         Years before I loved her in Murphy Brown on TV, this Oscar nominee was in Salzburg, Austria, and we bumped into each other in the American Express office in the Old Town (bumped into each other?? That suggests that Candy and I are old friends!). She was with husband Louis Malle and looked every bit as lovely as one would hope. Again, I kept my cool…

Barbra Streisand       This may be my most tenuous Dropped Name connection, but years ago I spent a weekend with a friend of college friend Jill’s in Connecticut who sold a piece of furniture to Barbra Streisand. Come to think of it, I guess that hardly counts. But I had a great conversation about 17th century furniture and how the Thirty Years’ War affected furniture production. She said Barbra was a picky buyer.

Liza Minnelli              Liza, oh, Liza, you have been a source of joy and bizarre-behavior for years. I saw Liza in concert several times in the 1980s, and she was always a mesmerizing, riveting performer. However, when I saw her in the late 1990s subbing in Victor/Victoria on Broadway she was in a fog of something and it was a night that I almost gave up theater-going. However, my encounter came when I was in line to enter my favorite NYC cabaret spot, 88s, around 2003, and all of a sudden, a woman cut in line, and brushed past me, going right in. I turned to say something, and noticed that it was La Minnelli herself. While we waited for singer Sally Mayes (who is superb!) I made my way over to Liza’s table to thank her for the concerts of the 80s and her stupendous star quality. She smiled, looked grateful and sincere, and gave me a hug. She also enjoyed the show—I made sure to look over and note her reactions throughout the show!

Jane Fonda                At Brown University, the night before graduation every year is the Campus Dance, and all alumni are invited back every year. I have gone only once, the year I graduated with my Master’s degree from Brown, but the dance was a great affair. I was there with my History peeps and all of a sudden I heard a voice from behind me that I instantly recognized! I turned and there,a few feet away, was Jane Fonda. I went over and said hello (husband at the time Ted Turner is a Brown alum, as was her daughter) and told her that I was a big fan. (I didn’t mention to her that I wrote her for my 7th grade Oscar project and never heard from her.) I gushed that the year I got into the Oscars—1977—I rooted for her to win for Julia. She was pleasant.

Wendy Hiller             This Oscar winner (she won for Separate Tables in the late 50s) starred in Driving Miss Daisy in London in the summer of 1988, and Tony and I went to see her and then met her afterwards. She was so gracious—insistent that we chat with her while she signed our programs, and asked us about our travels and if we enjoyed the play. I adored her performance and also enjoyed her kindly grande dame persona after the show.

Meryl Streep              Okay, this is maybe me at my most stalker self…I have yet to meet Meryl Streep, although that would be a thrill. But in the fall of 1994 I spent a day at the boarding school Hotchkiss, shadowing a French teacher, and she pointed out Meryl Streep’s son. I made sure I bumped into him during lunch, and almost spoke to him about his wondrous mother, but restrained myself instead. I hope to drop the name Meryl Streep someday!

Celeste Holm              One evening in Manhattan I came across an elegant, older lady, and I realized it was Celeste Holm—an Oscar winner from the mid-1940s. She was outside of Le Bernardin, a wonderful, expensive restaurant. I did decide to go up and speak to Ms. Holm, telling her how much I enjoyed her in a movie, Tom Sawyer, from my childhood, from a TV film about the Presidents, and seeing her in All About Eve. I also confessed that I had watched her in a soap opera (see in the next installment of Dropped Names) when she joined her husband for a few months on the soap. She was thoroughly sweet and a reminder of old Hollywood, old Broadway, early TV, and totally classy and glam. Note to musical theater enthusiasts: Celeste Holm was the original Ado Annie in Oklahoma in 1943. Lovely lady!

So those are my encounters with Oscar winners. There was a summer that I walked around the Turtle Bay area in Manhattan, hoping to bump into 4-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn. I never saw her coming out for milk or her dry cleaning! I have seen Oscar winners in plays, but my favorite Oscar-person moment might be watching Joanne Woodward, the director of an agitprop 1930s play in the late 90s, watching her own play she had directed. Splashed across her face was such a love for the work, a pride, an excitement (she had gotten a great performance out of Oscar winner My Cousin Vinny’s Marisa Tomei) and a pure joy. It wasn’t about her being “famous,” but just the thrill of the work.
Tomorrow I will complete my Dropped Names project…

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