Best celeb meeting I've had recently was Bill Murray. He and his son came in to the restaurant I was working at at the time and, in the middle of being crushed from the busy-ness of the night, I look over at my boss and he says "And no, we will not be doing anything special for Mr. Murray."
I look over at table 31, and there's Bill and one of his sons. I've waited on scores of celebs over the years, and I'm never nervous. But it's Bill Murray, probably one of my top 5 "Who would you like to dine with at your last meal?" types. I approached and gave them the schpiel, and he said "Why don't you just send us some food."
"How hungry are you?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say about 7."
So I sent them some stuff and throughout the meal we chat and I generally do my best to get him laughing (and he returns the gesture.) At the end of the meal, I ask him what he liked best, saying "'cus clearly it wasn't the service." Overall he was very much the kind of person that reminds me of my family -- same dry sense of humor.
He ordered a few bottles of wine, one of which he insisted I have with him. I got a glass, poured about 2oz. He kept motioning "more, more." So, I'm about half-way up the glass (a big, 13oz glass) and he goes from gesturing "more" to abruptly cutting me off -- "Whoa pal. OK you overdid it there. I still want you to come back to work tomorrow."
I stood there drinking it on the floor which is flat out against service decorum but I was like "Fuck it. It's Bill mutherfuckin Murray!" My entire section of tables was sinking like a rock and I couldn't have been happier
At the end, he stood up and said "I'm Bill." We shook hands. He tipped HUGE, then went to the bar to finish his wine and really engaged all the other guests around. Hung out for about another hour just chatting and laughing with people.
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Same place, months ago. This woman and a group comes in and everyone I work with -- actors and dancers, mostly -- fall over themselves. "It's Ann Reinking!"
Me: "Who?"
As it turns out, she's probably most widely known for being "Grace" in the onscreen version of Annie. But her history as a dance choreographer is legendary. She's in Mad, Hot Ballroom apparently. I'm not kidding when I say I felt like she was waiting on me, she was so gracious. Just polite and bent over backwards to help me with my night.
About halfway through the meal, I keep looking at this guy to her left, and I think, "Man, that looks like an old Roy Scheider. Just like he looked in Jaws, but older."
Then it hits me -- Roy Scheider
is older than he was in Jaws. It was Roy, and he couldn't have been a kinder, smarter kind of guy than I could expect.
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Same place. Joel Coen and Frances McDormand are regulars and cool, "average" people. Just come in, do their thing, are nice, etc.
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Taylor Hackford is an ass and as far as I'm concerned his movies make his name a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hack. I'm no longer at that job, so I feel I can spill the story without worry: this fat guy in a ski parka comes in with a young, evidently rich couple (they had the sort of tan, hair and teeth that says it all.)
He's talking so much that it's taking him 20-30 mins more than his companions to finish each course, which makes it tough to guage when to get the kitchen preparing the next courses. In the middle of their second course, a busser innocently offers to clear his plate (which he hasn't touched for 15-20 mins) and you would think Hackford had been spit onby his response, "You see THIS?! This is what I mean when I say in Europe service is SO MUCH BETTER than service in the states. NO, I'M NOT FINISHED. I'll TELL YOU when I'm done."
So I go over there and say "I'm sorry but it was just an offer -- if you're not finished, please take your time and enjoy your meal." I'm interrupted by his companions -- at the time I didn't know who he was -- "Taylor, relax -- they're just trying to be helpful." He proceeds to lecture them and anyone within earshot how "proper service" is supposed to be. I guess he thinks he's Orson Wells doing a commercial shoot -- "You get a jury show me where it says you should clear my plate and I'll go down on you..."
Anyway, at the end of the meal, I've been hearing him talk about Cannes quite a bit and I'm trying to do some minor damage control at this point. So I say "I heard you talking about movies earlier and I was wondering if you have advice on what's good?"
The lady across from him blurts out "Ray -- and he directed it!"
I really couldn't hold back my disinterest. After a second I managed to say "So, Jamie Foxx? He's talented."
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Kate Mulgrew came in with two blonde girls, they looked no older than 10. Kate Mulgrew is the kind of star you look at and it bugs the hell out of you because you know you've seen that face, but where...???
She's got a fantastic voice, and when I mentioned to a co-worker she sounded like Kathryn Hepburn, Mulgrew's identity clicked for him "She played Hepburn on stage! Oh, and she was on one of those sci-fi shows." Then it hit me -- of course, the female captain on Star Trek (not that I'm the type, just something I vaguely remember.)
Well, I'd cruise by her table throughout the meal and she was going to great lengths to tell what I assumed was a kid's story to these two girls -- taking on different voices for each character and going through some intense motions with her hands.
So, you could imagine my amusement when I heard "...and what could she do?! There was blood all over the place! Blood running down her dress and there was no taxi in SIGHT!"
WTF?
- jim