Leonardo DiCaprio won't talk to you anymore.
I actually saw him once, during the height of his fame (and boy, hasn't he become a nobody these days). I was on a packed subway headed uptown one afternoon. I was standing right next to the doors. They swoosh open, and there standing in front of me was DiCaprio, accompanied by his financial adviser, Dana Giacchetto, who later went to prison for fraud. DiCaprio was in street clothes, and had a baseball cap on. His face looked puffy and pale, like a hungover college kid. He looks and me and says:
"Is this train going downtown?"
"No, uptown," I said.
"Thanks," he said, and the door closed.
And that was my brush with greatness. I wonder if he ever thinks of our special moment together. In other Brush With Greatness news, I saw Harriet Miers the other day at the Barnes & Noble. I want to hear your stories about Brushes With Greatness, especially if the star was hectoring you about politics.
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Well, my family and I are actually in the DiCaprio produced and narrated film, "The Eleventh Hour", for all of about 4 seconds. When the movie came out, we went to go see ourselves in it. When we came out of the theater, my oldest daughter pronounced it, "the most depressing movie ever made - and I'm in it!. Thanks a lot, Dad."
Other than this, I once rode a museum shuttle bus with Julia Roberts, and once played dominoes with Chuck D (of Public Enemy).
Circa 1985, I met the actress Lori Singer (Footloose), whom I asked for an autograph. Unfortunately, I thought she was Darryl Hannah, so it got awkward.
I also met Mankind, the pro wrestler (formerly "Cactus Jack"), in the Atlanta airport. I recognized him because he was the size of a Hummer H-1 stood on end, and because he was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of himself. The t-shirt helpfully said "MANKIND" above his photo.
I also crank-called Ed Meese in 1987, when he was Attorney General. He was very nice, and I felt bad for disturbing him at home.
I've also seen Rod Dreher in the NY subway.
Maya Angelou 18 years ago.
Blog.
When in college back in the 80's i worked the front desk at a Harley, (think Leona Helmsley) Hotel in the the cleveland suburbs. celebs and politicians would stay there when in town to perform/lecture at the Front Row Theater. I met lots of famous people, but my favorite, believe it or not, was Joan Rivers. She just was genuinely charming while checking in and probably made 50 to 60 jokes in the span of about 8 minutes, mostly at the expense of Leona Helmsley. BB King, as you might suspect, is an awesome guy to meet...Andy Williams, not so much.
DiCaprio is one of those unlucky fellows who is cursed with being too boyish. I find his voice kind of irritating. That said, I thought his performances in both "The Departed" and "Catch Me If You Can" were excellent. His acting has been steadily improving.
I saw a clip of an interview with the late, great, Paul Newman in which he defended his support for liberal causes by saying that actors don't give up their citizenship when they become famous.
Sure, sometimes celebrities expect their political statements to be taken more seriously than those of "Joe or Jane Sixpack," and sometimes celebrities say or do abysmally stupid things. But, they have just as much right to be involved in politics as the rest of us.
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