My Brush With An Actor I Didn't Trust: Have You Had One, Too?

United States
May 1, 2007 1:35am CST
At one time in my life I used to spend a lot of time in an Irish pub, drinking, telling stories, and hanging out with a bartender friend of mine. There were lots of people who came around on Saturday nights just on a chance, to have a drink while passing through. The pub was on the road to The Hamptons, where lots of actors and directors spend their summers. On one particularly dark and rainy Saturday night when I was bored out of my skull, I attempted to get the bartender's attention - I really needed my first drink, and the bar was filled to the rafters. It was easy to fill the little pub - just enough people to take all the seats and a few on the side made it impossible to get anywhere near the bar. After excusing myself, I leaned in towards the bar between two people who didn't really seem to be together. One was a washed-out looking female burnout, and the other a man dressed all in black, sporting a black cowboy hat. For the life of me, I couldn't get the bartender's attention. Suddenly the man in black tipped his hat towards me, and said in the most growling low voice that I have ever heard, "Have a drink with me." It wasn't a question, it was more of a command. I leaned forward to see his face, and what I saw scared me. He was pointy chinned, sallow cheeked, with stringy long hair, a mouth full of teeth that were fully capped, and they gleamed as white as a wolf's. I said, "Do I know you?" He laughed, and once again- it sounded more like a growl. "You should know me, I'm famous. I'll be so well known in a few months that you'll WISH you had taken me up on my offer..." I gulped. What the heck was this guy talking about? It didn't matter to me. I instinctively knew that he was not a person that I wanted to be around. "No thanks," I squeaked. He tipped his hat high enough for me to see his eyes and said, "Your loss." At that point I ran to the corner of the bar and didn't look at him for the rest of the night. What a creepy person! Two months down the road everyone who I knew was going to see "The Crow" (the last Brandon Lee movie) and I was happy enough to see it until...the bad guys appeared on screen. At first it didn't click, but then, I gawped in front of the viewing audience and hysterically whispered to my boyfriend, "THAT'S HIM! THE EVIL COWBOY AT THE BAR!" And it was truly an actor by the name of Michael Wincott. He's played all sorts of bad guys, From "Top Dollar" in "The Crow" to "Sir Guy of Gisborn" in "Robinhood, Prince of Thieves", to "Frank" (the captain of the smuggler ship) in "Alien Resurrection". He was right - he'd become famous for playing bad guys for a short time. Nowadays he's doing voice-overs for video games. I'm just glad I didn't take that drink. He didn't seem like a stand-up guy to me, and I know he would have been big, big trouble. Scary. So have you had a run-in with a famous person? Go ahead an tell us! Was it good, or bad, and how did that affect you?
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1 response
2 May 07
In Manchester, England, we have a large BBC studio, and directly across from the car park entrance is a pub caleed the 'Lass o'Gowrie'. Whilst on a sponsored Pub Crawl in fancy dress, my friends and I entered this pub, which was disappointingly rather empty, so we did not anticipate much fund raising from that particular venue. Moving around the room, from table to table, I discovered two gentlmen loitering in a corner. They could not be described as hiding, as one of them was about 6 foot 5 tall. In an incredibly deep and luscious voice the giant asked for whom we were fundraising, and upon hearing it was for a local childrens hospice, the two gentlemen proferred £10.00 (not an insignificant sum at the time)each, and invited us all for a drink. They were two real gentlemen, and we had a thoroughly great time. They were Tom Baker (perhaps most famous for being Dr Who on British telly) and Brian Pringle (star of many 1950s movies, like 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning'. I cannot speak highly enough of these two men.
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• United States
3 May 07
Oh, mgod..I've met Tom Baker here in the States. While he certainly is a kind man, his height scares me to pieces. I got to shake his hand and say hello, but I've afraid that's as far as I got before my knees began to give out. I ended up cutting the conversation short and making an escape before fainting!!! ;) Wonder what Pringle and Baker were doing having a drink together? Were they working on something?
5 May 07
I'm just 6 foot tall myself, and Tom completely loomed over me, the guy really is giant. He looks tall on the tv, but Hell, he's like something from a Roald Dahl novel in real life. Fortunately, in the UK, he has had a resurrection of his career recently, especially with voice overs on a comedy series called 'Little Britain'. As I recall, I think Brian and him had been working on a radio show for the BBC at the time. I'm really chuffed that you've met him too. Ironically, though not an actor, I also once worked with Jools Holland (ex-keyboard player with Squeeze, solo artist & now works with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra?), and he is miniature, even smaller than he seems on tv. That said, his stage presence was enormous! It's a strange world. All the best.