I don’t know anything about their personal lives, but some of these people don’t seem that bad. They don’t seem as bad as (for example) Alec Baldwin or Steven Seagal.
I would always rather read about the celebrities who are incredibly nice – Keanu Reeves, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, the late President Jimmy Carter, Henry Winkler, the late Stan Musial …
Evidently Tobey Maguire likes to financially ruin people in poker, especially if they can’t afford it. The Michael Cera character in the movie Molly‘s Game was based on him.
That article read as if it was written by a third-grader who needs his Ritalin adjusted.
…right down to a seven item headline on a list of eight people. At least he lets The Shat off easy – no mention of his wig theft or just how petty he got if the episode had Too Much Nimoy (which is like Too Much Johnson, but with pointier ears).
When I was in college in the 1980’s, I waited tables at a hotel that was next to a venue with a Star Trek convention and had the displeasure of waiting on a few members of the original Star Trek.
One of them was delightful, but one of the others was the nastiest person I have ever dealt with in my life. (was it a bad day? It didn’t seem like it, because one of them apologized to me about it on their way to the restroom, so it appears they were used to covering for their bad behavior)
So which was which? I’m sure it doesn’t matter a whole lot at this point for the remaining that are still alive.
I do find it odd how many celebrities despise the fan events, the fame, the interviews, and so on that make them wealthy. Then they go on to take more movies, live in Los Angeles, be outspoken on their own time, etc.
Can’t have it both ways – most of these people have enough money to never be in a movie or show again and don’t have to do it and can step aside out of the spotlight and never do it again.
Dude, you can’t tell the story without names.
At least who was delightful. We can probably back the rest out from there.
George Takei has the reputation of being unfailingly nice to everyone. I don’t know about any of the others except my man Shat, who does not have that reputation.
My friend Dale Davis, the guy who made surfing films, was pretty good friends with Nimoy and liked him a lot. But that was decades ago, and I don’t remember details. Dale died just after the 9-11 attacks. (I never met Nimoy myself.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if James Dohan was the nice one. He came to a panel at a local collage and afterwards hung out at a popular student wateringhole/restaurant for hours shooting the shit with fans. He always had the reputation for going the extra mile for everybody.
Jlo is infamous. People who have worked with her dropped the name. A total nightmare.
Ariana has the rep of being a bully. Deserved or not, that’s the rep.
Kiefer has demons. You’ll notice he isn’t working. We love him but he hates himself. He doesn’t hate others, they’re collateral damage.
Shat is Shat. He’s come to terms with much of his life, but still insists nobody touches him at photo ops. Yeah.
Ellen, I mean, she lost everything specifically over being a twat. No denials there.
I’ll throw in my two cents: Gary Busey is an insane nightmare. Ironically, apparently Jake is super nice. Bruce Campbell used to be a serious dick, but got better once he slowed down on the booze. Traci Lords was known as a diva. Not known if she got better with age.
The good news? I’ve got a list of cool people in the industry as long as my arm.
Of the ones I’ve had a conversation with, these come to mind
Randy Savage – was an approachable guy who would have kept talking baseball with me at a bar, but his handlers dragged him off.
The Ultimate Warrior – this guy had a reputation as a prick, but he came up to me in the after-hours Slim Jim suite at a convention, and introduced himself as Jim and his wife as Sheri. I was wearing a joke t-shirt that said Mr. Bowling, so he joined me in a competition to knock over ten boxes of Slim Jims by rolling a single ash tray, setting up the boxes as pins. I told him my name, but he addressed me respectfully as “Mr. Bowling.” What can I say? I had fun with him and he seemed laid-back. Maybe the steroids fucked up his head later in life. Oddly, I don’t remember the Slim Jim guys being upset at all by our treatment of their products.
Bo Derek – really nice. EXTRA nice. I’ve told the story many times.
Salma Hayek – took the time to talk with me as long as I wanted, without excusing herself to meet somebody more important.
Bob Woodward – friendly enough, but the most boring man on earth, and impossible to shut up. I sat next to him on a domestic flight. I would say he talked the whole flight, but that doesn’t mean much because he talks so slowly that he probably said about six words.
Bert Parks – a total asshole. I didn’t talk to him, but watched him interact with non-celebrities for hours. He hosted a local teen beauty pageant at my high school (we had a nice facility). He used coarse language and was rude to the high school girls during rehearsals, then was all smiles for the camera.
Marilyn Chambers – she and I were guests at a magazine convention where I spoke about the future of magazines in c-stores. (At the time I was a product manager for 7-Eleven, and magazines were one of my many categories.) She was a total cold fish who barely managed to say “hello” to me or anyone else. She came with a handler, and they sat apart from everyone else for the entire convention day and party night, with almost zero interaction. She didn’t give a speech, so I have no idea why she decided to be there. Her publisher (Club magazine, if memory serves) must have insisted. I’ve heard she was a multi-substance addict at the time, which may or may not explain her behavior.
A relative is a pilot who flew both Seinfeld & J-Lo. He said she was superficially pleasant with a wan fake smile but made him feel like he was just some insignificant pissant intruding on her time when he was telling her about flight rules. Same with Seinfeld, who when told to put on his seat belt refused and complained, finally putting it on with sarcasm. Spoiled brats.
I’ve also heard Mike Myers is a terror, insisting people not look at him when he passes and shit like that. I never understood that kind of arrogance in his case. His SNL characters were lame as hell: Simon in the bath, Wayne, Deiter, et al. He made one mildly entertaining movie, Powers, then fell off the face of the earth. He’s just a common fuckface, and I guess the world finally realized that, but damn, it took way too long.
Opinions vary I guess.
I have no idea if Mike Myers is an asshole in real life but his success is undeniable. Wayne’s World is fantastic and I enjoyed all of the Austin Powers movies.
And then there’s Shrek.
He’s made some stinkers over the years but he’s never been out of work either.
His success is undeniable, but Sandler, Spade, & Schneider are all also multi-millionaires due to their movies, so success certainly doesn’t equal talent. To me Myers is pretty lame. The cheesy Powers English accent and the Wayne persona, and all the smug smirks at the camera to show us all how clever he is. That’s about it. Everything else he did – Cat in the Hat, Love Guru, etc failed so miserably that his career basically ended. Even his comeback attempt as Musk on SNL flopped.
So I just can’t figure out where his wild ego& arrogance stem from. Refusing to allow underlings to make eye contact, and having handlers pop his favorite chocolates into his mouth on set… uggh. As to whether he and his movies are funny or not, just a matter of taste, as you say. To me, he’s as funny and clever as Paris Hilton in The Hottie and the Nottie.
Yeah, J-Lo and Affleck must have been quite a couple – twice.
Ms. High-Maintenance and Mr. About-To-Snap.
FWIW, I’ve met Affleck and he was super nice and seemed very down to Earth.
Kurt Vonnegut, who I had the pleasure of dining and drinking with, was the absolute coolest guy in the world and wonderfully kind. He was just as dry and hilarious as you’d expect.
Pat Riley was also a really nice guy. Very friendly.
The absolute worst I ever met was Pauly Shore, who was an enormous douche with a monster-sized ego.
I visited the Acropolis in 1992 and when I finally reached the Parthenon, there was a beautiful woman whose looks stunned me. She was standing there looking bored and disinterested in where she was. As I walked toward her to make conversation, a bodyguard rushed between us. That’s when I realized it was Jane Fonda. A few feet away was Ted Turner, yelling “Look honey, he gave me a map!” She just glanced over at him, irritated.
A while later I realized I’d left my camera near where she was, so I went back and shouted past their bodyguard asking if she’d seen it. She completely ignored me. Ted was still entranced with his map, lol. I thought, gawd, what a cunt, can’t even get excited about being at the Parthenon or respond to a fellow traveler looking for a lost camera. Just stood there looking impatient & pissed off, fully clothed in 90 degree weather. Not my fave celeb, lol. Tell you what though, she looked conspicuously gorgeous, and that’s before I even recognized her.
She gets bonus points for asking Johnny Carson if he ever petted Zsa Zsa Gabor’s pussy, live on air. He was so stunned he could barely respond. That lady’s got some balls. She obviously is no fan of Greek structures, or Ted Turner, but that’s understandable.
My dad would often talk about a number of celebrity interaction he had. He absolutely loathed Bob Hope, in his experience Hope was incredibly rude and full of himself. He really liked Jack Jones (the guy who sang the Love Boat theme), and adored Dolly Parton.
I’ve got another friend who did a lot of work for Shatner (all horse related) and actually had nothing but good things to say about him.