What famous person do you know or met directly or indirectly?

I knew two olympic figure skaters. I met them. Totally normal.

• Troll fail.

• ignore r1 carry on

  not%20the%20op

• OP has never met a grammarian apparently.

• José Ferrer, Janet Blair, Fred Astaire, and Vincent Minelli. Daniel Mann, Lynn Fontanne, Elia Kazan, and dearest Grace Kelly. Louie Schurr, Courtney Burr and Irving Lazar. Anthony Quinn and Rin Tin Tin. I taught Charlie everything there is to know about name-dropping.

• Jim parsons.

• Most of the domestic on-air CNN personalities. I am a partner to one.

• Is it Anderson, r6?!?!?

• R6, can you give us details?

• Do tell,r6!

• Lauren Hutton - GIGANTIC BITCH and she has herpes Paulina Porizkova - wonderful, lovely, funny and sweet JFK JR - was even better looking in person. Very nice Barbara and George Bush - they were very nice

• Second the Lauren Hutton is a bitch comment. I saw her yelling at a man behind the counter at EAT on Madison Avenue. A beautifully dressed woman told her to apologize and learn some manners. LH ignored her. The woman turned out to be Lily Safra.

• Julianne Moore's cousin. Seriously.

• Frank Sinatra at Ronnie's gubernatorial ball. He sang, he danced. But why Nancy would want to blow him is beyond me.

• Would love love love some Lily Safra stories.

• Courtney Burr?! Jeez, never thought I'd hear that name again.

• R6 here. We're a female couple, together 5 years. I know Anderson and Wolf and Candy, et al. Have been to events with them and in some cases, dinners in their homes. All of them gracious save for a few. Yeltsin and King have egos you can spot from a Chinese satellite.

• Bette Midler. She was nice to me.

• r5 what was he like?

  anonymous

• Matt Damon. Love him, great guy, a real straight shooter.Lucy, his wife is great too.

• R19, has Damon or anyone who knows him made comments about his butt? What does it look like in person?

• "Lauren Hutton - GIGANTIC BITCH" I'm acquainted with her and I think she's majorly mentally ill. Also a closeted lesbian.

• He's a genuinely smart, funny, kind person R18. I'm friends with a friend of his, that's how I met him.

• How do you know Lauren has herpes? She's a gappy girl.

• George Michael is my cousin.

• SOOOO You;re the one R17

• Directly. Marlene Dietrich. (lovely). Bea Arthur (kind and really sweet). Sean Connery.( No comment). Honor Blackman ( sweet and a little shy). Sir John Mills ( funny) Barbara Windsor ( kind and caring) Robert Reed (aloof) Sir Michael Redgrave. Glenda Jackson. (lovely, interesting, down to earth) Maxwell Caulfield ( really sweet). Juliet Mills (the nicest, naughtiest person of them all.). Greta Garbo - well, didn't actually "meet", sat next to in a theatre and exchanged a few words.

• Julianne Moore.......................................................seriously!

• Charles Shaughnessy Garrett Dillahunt Carolyn McCormick Heather Matarazzo and . . . . . . . . . . . . DL's beloved, AnnE Hathaway

• [quote]I know Anderson and Wolf and Candy, et al. Have been to events with them and in some cases, dinners in their homes. All of them gracious save for a few. Yeltsin and King have egos you can spot from a Chinese satellite. R6/R16, which ones are Republicans? Ok just kidding, but when you say "Yeltsin" do you mean Jessica Yellin and "King" is John King or Larry?

• Judy Davis, very nice, smart woman. Oliver Stone, way more conservative than I would have expected. Kenneth Branagh, small, but quite good looking for his age. Kristen Stewart, dumb doesn't even come close to describing her. Stephen Dorff, really nice guy. Sofia Coppola, very intelligent woman. Deepak Chopra, very smart man and a great doctor.

• Judy Garland, bitches.

• More please!

• R28 Garrett Dillahunt - is he cute in person? Jensen Ackles.

• r30 MORE Judy Davis please!!

• R26 -- you're Charlie, aren't you? Just admit it.

• When I was little Gwen Verdon gave me a cat, "Rocks". I remember she was a friendly and lovely woman. In spite of any reputation he might have here on DL, Edward Albee is rather a sweet guy. Whip smart!

  Edga

• No, r35, charlie only knows the BIG ones.

• Helen Hayes...truly gracious Whoopi Goldberg...very down to earth Judd Nelson...nice guy Ally Sheedy...very laid back Brooke Shields...very sweet and her mother was rather funny. Ted Kennedy...full of himself

  BonniePrinceCharlie

• My sister's college roomate Alison.. well her friend's mom lived on the same street as Neve Campbell.

• Met Cameron Diaz in a gym parking lot. She is a rude, ugly, bitch!

• By "met" would that include chatting with while having them on a flight? If that qualifies then I've had a number of celebs on flights over the years: Brooke Shields (polite, gracious), John Forsyth (distinguished, elegant), Ed McMahon (gregarious, tall, had him twice), Donald Sutherland (tall, friendly), William Hurt (looked like a homeless man, odd acting), Jill St. John (petite, slept with a fur coat as a blanket), Gerald Ford (not very personable), Sen. Joe Biden (courteous, obvious hair plugs), Joseph Kennedy jr. (polite, friendly), John Schneider (yum, tall, handsome, friendly, marriage material), Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, Melissa Etheridge (needs make-up), Stevie Wonder (needs to diet), Sally Fields (tiny), Diane Sawyer (tall, pleasant, wore sunglasses), Geraldo (short,rude), Charlie Daniels (sweet), Deborah Harry (big behind), Bryant Gumbal (surprising nice and handsome),Shirley Jones (adorable), Brian Dennehy (rude ass), Ed Begley Jr. (polite, friendly), Lily Tomlin (nice, somewhat shy, smaller than I thought she would be), Reggie Jackson (rude, arrogant), Jesse Jackson (delusions of grandeur), Spike Lee (short, rude), Hulk Hogan (polite, huge), George Hamilton (tan, dying for attention)

  Lou%20the%20Stew

• Whoops, forgot Jennifer Hudson, had her on recently. Very gracious and nice.

  Lou

• Satan

  Joan%20Crawford

• Satan's bride (Joan Crawford)

  B%20Davis

• "Lily Tomlin (nice, somewhat shy, smaller than I thought she would be)" I remember when someone completely blew their bullshit story of knowing Julie Andrews, saying she was "tiny." She's not. Now we have Lily Tomlin as "small." Neither is she. Dearest, r41, how big did you imagine Lily Tomlin? She's 5'7". Taller than average and certainly not small.

• Too many to name, so I'll just mention Audrey Hepburn. She personified everything you would want in a legend.

• George Clinton ( Parliament) Met at a party. We spent a long time setting at a table talking about everything. Both Southerners. He was really sweet. Jack Kevorkian. Adored him. So warm and kind. Health fanatic. Aretha Franklin. She was nice to me but in general she has no use for anyone that is white. My daughter was a few months old at the time and I thanked her because my daughter would not cry if I played her music. I worked at Saks in cosmetics at the time and a lot of people loathed her. She was generally rude and one time dropped a cigarette on the floor and put it out with her shoe! Richard Petty. My cousin but quiet and basically nice. Typical Southerner. Bobby Labonte. Great guy. Cher. Enthralled with my daughter. Loved an outfit she wore . Geoffrey Fieger ( local celeb, original attorney for Jack Kevorkian) bleech. Hit on me and I already knew his piggish rep. Gov. John Engeler Folloed me around a party followed by his security.

• "one time dropped a cigarette on the floor and put it out with her shoe!" WTF? That's the way it was done when you could smoke anywhere. What did they expect her to do? Put it out with her knee?

• Um, have the class to not smoke in the store or put it out in an ashtray. She has a shit reputation.

• Michael Phelps (directly)

• Famous people I've met, Bill Clinton, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift (rude), Alicia Keys, Pink, Andy Samberg(also rude), etc.

• Interesting about Lauren H. from r21 and others. When Jodie's brother came out with his book, he mentioned that Jodie had a model over at her place. He kept bugging Jodie to set him up with her but she told him the woman was 'typhoid mary'. I remember guesses included Lauren Hutton since she was rumored to have had an affair with Jodie.

  Yes%3F%20No%3F

• Paul Wall. He tried to sell me a pair of grillz.

• [quote]"Lily Tomlin (nice, somewhat shy, smaller than I thought she would be)" [quote]I remember when someone completely blew their bullshit story of knowing Julie Andrews, saying she was "tiny." She's not. Now we have Lily Tomlin as "small." Neither is she. Dearest, [R41], how big did you imagine Lily Tomlin? She's 5'7". Taller than average and certainly not small. Well, you dipshit, the poster never said she is small, but that HE THOUGHT she would be taller.

• HE needs to answer, fucktard, r54. HOW tall, 6'2"?

• Lily Tomlin, John Lennon, Connie Francis

• Ethel Kennedy (met her twice and both times she was very nice and chatty), Lynda Carter (very nice), Brooke Shields, Oprah (short, fat but nice)...a bunch of others I can't remember.

• David Burtka. Incredibly nice.

• Would somebody be a dear and eat a bowl of chili then shit in my mouth? PLEASE!

  R21/37/45/48/55

• [quote]Kristen Stewart, dumb doesn't even come close to describing her. This doesn't surprise me.

• R45. As R54 explained Lily Tomlin was not as tall as she appeared to be on TV. I didn't recognize her when she boarded with her partner and they sat in economy. At the end of the flight she went in the restroom and by the time she came out all passengers had deplaned and the crew had their coats on and bags assembled and were ready to go. She was very apologetic and sweet and I told her no big deal, but next time she had to do some Ernestine for us. She laughed and said "it's a deal". Likewise Brooke Shields looks very big on TV like she would have a huge ass but in person she was tall but svelte.

  Lou

• damn

• r30? Judy Davis deets please!

• R6/R16 please come back with more details!

• Bill Murray supports the nonprofit I work for. He is exactly the way he comes across: funny, brainy, melancholy, little bit horny. A national treasure.

• All the guys in Metallica. Sean Penn. Twiggy from Marilyn Manson's band. Peter Coyote. Connie Neilsen. Sammy Hagar. Leonardo DiCaprio. KidRock. Ozzy Osbourne and his family (including Aimee, the quiet one). Faith No More.

• Went to high school with (and knew to speak to or hang out with): Dan Castellaneta, Kathy Griffin, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Megan Cavanaugh, Helene Alexopoulos (NYC Ballet), Jane Hamilton (novelist--good friend) College: Not particularly friends with, but was there at the same time with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall, John Logan, Bruce Norris (playwright), John Logan (playwright), Laura Innes (she was standoffish, even though we were in classes and plays), Megan Mullaly, Suzie Plakson, Gregg Edelman

• Daniel Craig- normal, no airs. Natalie Portman -snobby Joe Strummer - the coolest, very normal. Simon Lebon- normal Julia Stiles- normal and friendly, no airs

• Any deets on Jensen, R33? He's a topic of some controversy here.

• [quote]Natalie Portman -snobby Why am I not surprised?

• r66, what were Puffy and Patton like? I've heard conflicting stories about Patton. Some people say he was cool, others a raging dick.

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan (effin Amazing, warm and fun) Tim Russert (A regular guy, bought a round of drinks) Debbie Reynolds (A movie star that was on) Mario & Andrew Cuomo, both were just as on TV, smart and serious. Al Gore before he was VP. And Barney Frank who is a chaser magnet.

• John Edwards before he ran for VP. I worked in the Capitol as a staffer. He was charming, real easy on the eyes, and clever (not smart--there's a difference). He used to frequent the gym 2 or 3 times a week. HUNG like a horse, and hairy. Beautiful ass. Dealt with Orrin Hatch on a professional basis. Creepy. There was just something "off" about the guy. Ted Kennedy. God rest his soul. Adored him. Loved his booze, but he fought the good fight and treated staffers like real people. Very funny sense of humor, and I used to see his niece Caroline in her uncle's office. She was reserved, but polite. Years later ran into her on the street in NYC. We chatted and she was very warm. I told her "I miss your Uncle Ted" and her eyes misted over. She loathes publicity but very, very dedicated to particular causes in NYC. A friend of mine who also posts here knows about the charities, and would shriek if I said anything. So...enough.

• People will hate me for saying this, but James Franco is a really smart guy. The trouble, I think, is he trying to do everything. He should just focus on one or two things. People get sick of seeing him everywhere (myself included).

• R73: How long did John Edwards peter appear to be while soft? Is he cut? What color are his pubes? Did he do the towel dance after taking a shower, etc? If you had to guess, how long do you think John is when fully erect?

  I think John Edwards is hot!

• If you guys follow soccer, Alex Ferguson is a cheap cheap (tipper) cunt.

• Sandra Bullock was in my drama class at East Carolina University in the mid 80's (in North Carolina.) She was very sweet and had lots of friends. There was something special about her even then. It was surreal watching her win her Oscar a few years ago.

  Go Sandy!!

• To the people that know Lauren Hutton I have a question. A few years ago I read an article about her longterm boyfriend stealing all of money. Any idea what happened andif he did steal the money? TYIA

• R3, neither have you a grammarian met apparently. Meaning, use a comma and for Fowler's sake put "apparently" somewhere else, unless you are going for a George Sanders vibe. It seems unlikely, since Mr. Sanders understood the need for commas.

• [quote]Sandra Bullock was in my drama class at East Carolina University in the mid 80's (in North Carolina.) She was very sweet and had lots of friends. She seems kind of dour and grumpy now, she never smiles or maybe she's just made at the paparazzi.

• R 80: I don't know Sandra, but, I think her heated divorce scandal took a toll on her (she was lucky her career wasn't damaged.) She clearly has lots of friends in high places.

  R77

• "Deepak Chopra, very smart man and a great doctor." Uh, no.

  Spirituality%20%3D%20Bullshit

• I've met Janette Rockefeller, David Rockefeller Jr., Tony Curtis, Kitty Dukakis, Julia Child, H. Ross Perot and a few weeks ago, three time US Olympic xc skiier, John Bauer.

• George Michael used to be my cousin too, r24!

• R76, since you wrongly call it soccer, you must be an American complaining that Alex Ferguson gives what would be considered a very reasonable tip everywhere else in the world but a cheap one in the US, where restaurants barely pay serving staff.

• R85 is a moron. F&F.

  %22Soccer%22%20Is%20Not%20%27Wrong%27%2C%20Dear

• R6/R16 here. Pardon my previous typo--I was referring to J Yellin and John King. On the other hand, C Crowley, S Malveaux, J Dougherty and W Blitzer are genuinely sweet people. Erin Burnett is intense and humorless. I can't speak to CNN as a whole, but most I know are definitely not Repubs.

• Thank you R87. How's Donna Brazille?

• R86, it is in serious football-playing countries.

• Glenn Close. Nice, but from a completely different world than any of us will ever know. A bit whacky and not able to relate to the "common" man. But still, very nice. BIG TIME family money.

• [quote]Paulina Porizkova - wonderful, lovely, funny and sweet I loved her on DWTS. She just came across as a very happy, normal person.

• R88: Mz. Brazile is freakishly intelligent, eloquent, and irreverently funny. She doesn't hold back. Iron fist in a velvet glove. Very, very cool woman. Don Lemon is a sweetheart, too. He's comfortable in his skin and doesn't play the "I'm on TV" card that others do.

• [quote]Erin Burnett is intense and humorless. Can't stand her. You sure she's not a Republican? Candy, Wolf and AC aren't Republicans? I find it hard to believe!

• Christine Ebersole. She's as nice and as fun as they come.

• In the 70s I was in a high rise elevator in midtown NYC with Jackie Kennedy, and I swear she passed gas.

• Erik Menendez, the murderer. He is a cock sucker and a con.

• I too was shat on by Jackie Onassis

  Princess%20Le%2C%20I%20mean%20%22anonymous%22

• Oh my god r96, please elaborate! I just posted something about him in another thread and was somewhat sympathetic to him, but I don't know him.

• R6/R16, is your partner closeted?

• I've met several presidents and prime ministers of several nations. It was always an informal meeting at various receptions and events. Nothing one on one.

• R99: No, she isn't closeted. But she's private, and I don't believe she "pings" to most. Neither of us do. We're certainly out to everyone in our immediate private/professional spheres. R93: I've no idea about AC's affiliation. If Candy and Wolf vote to the right, they've done a helluva job convincing me otherwise, off-air. But what do I know.

• Speaker of the House Jim Wright...

• [quote]To the people that know Lauren Hutton I have a question. A few years ago I read an article about her longterm boyfriend stealing all of money. Any idea what happened andif he did steal the money? TYIA There used to be a breakfast place in the West Village called The Bagel. Hutton would eat there every day, starting when she was "broke." She never left a tip and was rude. The servers hated her. After she signed her big Million Dollar Revlon contract, she kept coming in ... and still left no tip. Her boyfriend/beard taking her money was "instant karma" as far as I'm concerned.

• [quote] If Candy and Wolf vote to the right, they've done a helluva job convincing me otherwise, off-air. But what do I know. This is breaking news to me because they sure do seem like conservatives and so does Anderson from time to time.

• Remember they're on television trying to coax middle America. Not everyone can be a Jon Stewart or Maddow. It's all relative, and CNN is very adept at playing both sides for viewership. It is, after all, just a job, and their job depends solely on ratings.

• Skied with Clint Eastwood in Sun Valley, saw Sondra Locke and Clint's son. Met Tony Mordente "Jet" from The movie West Side Story (I was a young dancer then) Took a ballet class from Ann Reinking Was kissed by Richard Gere

• Rush Limbaugh ( I know, I know) was gracious charming.

• This may come as a great shock, but Tommy Tune is a cunt. A total fucking douche bag cunt. He will put on that sweet syrupy southern drawl to your face and will stab you in the back before he can even get out the door. I hope the karma train hits him hard. And soon.

• Met Alan Cumming at Xth Ave. Lounge, simpering and fugly as shit. Blew Lou Christie, huge uncut precum filled Italian dick.

• R108 - I don't think Tommy Tune being an ass would come as a surprise to ANYONE - why do you think he has not directed even a frigging Encores production in New York in decades?

• I met Cleo Laine on the street waiting for a car. She was sweet and funny and down-to-earth. She talked to me first. I met Jane Goodall and had lunch with her. She was everything she seems to be, but it's possible only because she has a large team of true-believing idolators swarming around her and fighting for precedence. She took any unfinished water bottles back to her hotel room to drink because she hates seeing any resource wasted. I met Fulton Sheen but he just blessed me and sailed on in all his glory. I met Richard Branson and had dinner and he creeped the shit out of me. I met Stephen Spender and he was so old he had forgotten he once was queer. (My Favorite) I met Hillary Clinton in 1992 and told her she was very impressive and she needed to think about her own political career and consider running for office, and eventually the presidency, herself. She took a step back like she was staggering and laughed her head off. "I don't think so," she said. I said, "You ought to."

• Katie Couric went out of her way to help me when I was in an airport. She couldn't have been nicer. She is a cool, down to Earth lady.

• Whitney Houston one morning in an elevator at the Four Seasons, she had an SUV waiting outside to take her to the set of "Preacher's Wife". Goofy, unkempt, hungover, coked-up and friendly, peered over her askew sunglasses and said "Hello!" There were no drug rumours around then. I was told by my supervisor (I was temping in the administration office) to take the freight elevator after I told him.

• R106, are you male or female?

• [quote](My Favorite) I met Hillary Clinton in 1992 and told her she was very impressive and she needed to think about her own political career and consider running for office, and eventually the presidency, herself. She took a step back like she was staggering and laughed her head off. "I don't think so," she said. I said, "You ought to." That is a cool story.

• R67, I think I went to college with you.

• R67 you knew Helene Alexopoulos? (sp?) I was a huge admirer of her dancing, and while there are more than a few superb ballerinas these days at NYCB, none have her distinct glamour.

• Why won't you Northwestern peeps actually name your college?

• I'm friends with an Olympian and he's one of the smartest, humblest, and nicest guys I know. I was dumped by a superficial ex for a bigwig at the Kennedy Center. He was so materialistic and it's nauseating to see him at various events (at the Kennedy Center, book signings, society mixers) looking so smug next to his sugar daddy. I ran across a recent bio and he was bragging about being the music director for a couple of shows coming to Broadway...and he's not even 30 yet. Hopefully he burns out in epic fashion...not that I'm bitter, hahahaha.

• Too many to name, but one of my favorite stories is... I was in Sting's dressing room. Everyone cleared out but me and him. I had about a hundred posters he had to autograph, and we had a system going of me passing them to him to sign. James Taylor walked in with a guitar and began to play. Sting began to sing. I began to sweat. haha It was one of my first celeb experiences in the music biz just out of college and one of the best.

• [quote]Why won't you Northwestern peeps actually name your college? They think it makes them sound like they're bragging, the way people who went to Harvard say they went to college "in Massachusetts" or "near Boston."

• Thank you 103

• Met Princess Grace once, about a year before she died . Bloated, had smooth blonde hair on her face. Prince Albert, her son. Had bad acne, and was not attractive in the least. Both were tall.

• How do you meet someone "indirectly?"

• Why are fags so starstruck? Very few famous people are interesting at all.

  Jaded%20LA%20Queen

• Gerri Willis from Fox News Business Report John Boehner Bob Crane

• Used to be neighbors with Matt Damon's brother. The whole family is really nice and normal. The brother moved to a neighboring town a few years back.

• Listed this before but I'll include celebs I've met casually rather than know. KNOW: Cynthia Nixon: Gradeschool classmate. GENIUS. Made other students look stupid. Bailed for Hunter after fourth grade I think. stopped me on the street when we were fifteen and we talked for 5-10 minutes. Was suprrised she remembered me. Heart of gold, very socially conscious, sharp as a tack. Diane Lane: high school classmate. Dated my cousin before I got to the school. Glad she kept him off the market throughout school. Ate a holiday dinner with them once, she was very civilized. Very street-smart, I think we were in school three or four times on the same day. Michael Rapaport: Our moms were friends. Knew his brother and sister. Hung out with him occasionally. Nothing out of the ordinary. Kenneth Anger: Offered me the lead in "Lucifer Rising II" and hired me as PA. Quit after one day, declined role. Strong presence, strong mind, clear director's vision. Met casually: Burt Young: said "hey, look at the kid on the skates" outside the Waldorf Christmas 1981. I said "Hey, you're Burt Young." Shook my hand. Probably thought I'd call him "Paulie." Anthony Mirra: One of NYC's most violent mobsters ever. Mom's boyfriend in 1977. Saw him talking to mom in driveway and went up to him to ask him how he knew her and what he did for a living. Mom said he liked my looking out for her. George Plimpton: Saw him on E. 72nd and the FDR one morning while I was hanging out with a friend and he was walking his dog. Rodney Dangerfield: former neighbor. Used to hit on mom. Very quiet guy, widower, had rent-stabilzied apartment from his construction days. tour bus used to appear in driveway at 3:00 a.m. He'd walk to NYHRC in his robe (also to Catch A Rising Star). Don Imus: did coat-check at a charity show he did for that camp. Said "good show" after he was done. His reaction surprised me; I'll leave it at that. William Goldman: typing client of family business. Nice guy. Michael Learned: Married my half-brother. Was at their wedding. Nothing in common with her but she and Mom got along really well. Divorced out of family years ago. To name a fwe...

  Ray Gordon

• R67 here. R118 R121: I didn't identify my college not out of any attempt to be cool--just thought people were more interested in the famous individuals than in the place I went to school. Yes, it was Northwestern, 1978-83 (three degrees from there). Also, I wanted to try to suggest that these were people who were there and high-profile in college theatre--in many cases, you could have predicted they would go far--but the only ones I could honestly say I knew to sit down in the cafeteria with were Plakson and Michael Greif (was in classes with both of them and in a couple of shows with Greif). But I didn't want to make it seem like we were all good buddies. Jayne Atkinson was also there, too--a stunning Phaedra at age 20 or something like that. Plakson, Mullaly, and Edelman were all in A Little Night Music together. But no snobbery intended on my part. I went into academia. The high school list is, frankly, a more remarkable one because it was a suburban public high school and not even one of the rich ones (like New Trier), but a very economically and socially heterogeneous place. The ones I listed were all part of my extended social circle (we all were in drama or music groups and banded together). Another author, for those who like mysteries, is Nancy Atherton, who has had quite a run with the Aunt Dimity series. Contrary to popular belief, I was not the theatre critic when Ernest Hemingway edited the student newspaper! R117 Helene grew up in a very middle-class family, but was clearly already a trained and talented dancer by the time she hit high school. She was given permission to leave school early during the Lyric Opera's season, as she danced in the corps de ballet under her teacher Maria Tallchief. (The dyke who became chair of Girl's PE decided she would no longer make that "deal" and Helene had to take PE in her last couple of years, which does seem idiotic--as if she wasn't getting an extraordinary physical education at the Lyric). She was a nice and even then quite beautiful young woman--very bright (was accepted to Radcliffe, but didn't end up going, as she went immediately into the NYC Ballet, I think--after she retired from dancing, I believe she went to Columbia and got a degree)--and could have a wicked sense of humor (well, she wasn't around all those gay men in the ballet during her teen years for nothing), and also endearingly capable of being a teen age girl with a crush on one of the handsomer boys a year older than she was. When we did "Oklahoma," she did the Dream Ballet Laurey; our singing and acting Laurey was Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; our Ali Hakim was Dan Castellaneta; and our Curley was the accomplished ceramicist Peter Lane (who has pieces in the permanent collection of the Louvre). (My chorus partner in the show (meaning I walked her out onstage with the rest of unwashed for a big number) was a freshman named Kathy Griffin.) I saw Helene last a number of years ago when a bunch of us went to see Mary Elizabeth play Aldonza in the revival of Man of La Mancha (she had played the same role thirty years earlier in our high school production). I've probably forgotten a few--and a number came through my high school some years after I graduated--Officer Dingle from Reno 911, Mr. Jellnek from Strangers with Candy (I was his sister's grade--and we all had a very scary art teacher named Miss Jelinek), and others, no doubt. It was a time when even non-wealthy suburbs supported arts education with tax money. We were very fortunate. R116 I wouldn't at all be surprised if we crossed paths at Northwestern, since I was there for the better part of a decade. I'll sign the posting with my initials--let me know if we knew each other.

  BH

• Female R114.

  r106

• R111 the stephen spender one made me laugh.

• My good pal was working on film promotions with Marisa Tomei, and they invited me to go to The Cannes Film Festival with them, they seemed to have had a cancellation at the last minute. They got me a film pass, and said they couldn't entertain me, because they were working, but we went out to swell dinners, parties and functions every night and hobnobbed with famous people. I had the time of my life. Bring your own celeb, and you will enjoy the Riviera!

• R67: how well do you know Bruce Norris? Is he gay? he and I went to junior high together.

  Just%20Curious

• is R128 Zelig or Forrest Gump?