People I've Met

I performed with Tom in his first play, "Guys & Dolls" at Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey. We called him Mapes and Mapo since his last name was Mapother. I recently learned from the director of that play that during rehearsals he was on crutches, so they were considering having me take over his role as Nathan Detroit. ... Where would I be now?

Perhaps the best tournament poker player in the world, I've met him twice. Poker celebrities are easy to find since you always know where the good games are being played. Negreanu is very gracious to his fans. I like to think that he and I are both part of the Secret Vegan Poker Players Society. (So secret that even he doesn't know he's in it.)

My father shot a TV commercial with him at his home in Beverly Hills. I was a small child at the time, so he was taller than me at that point. He told us stories about how he used to swim in garbage, and how all the kids needed to share the same bath water. I had a broken arm at the time, and he signed my cast.

Met him on the set of "The Mod Squad" in the early '70s. My father had been invited to watch the shooting. Mr. Williams was very stoic, but polite.

I sort of stalked Nastassja in the early '80s and encountered her outside of a TV studio after an interview. After she'd signed a bunch of autographs and was about to get into her limo I handed her something. She took it and said, "What's this?" I said, "It's an autographed picture of myself. I thought you might like to receive one for a change." She said thank you, walked to her limo, then turned to give me a big smile before getting ing.

Ran into on the sidewalk waiting to cross the street in the 1980's. I spontaneously said, "Hey, Julian Lennon. How 'ya doin'?" He said "Alright," and stepped forward a little to put his buddy (or maybe body guard) between me and himself. He seemed understandably nervous.

They shot a few scenes of "Kramer vs. Kramer" in my father's Madison Avenue ad agency. Dad brought the family in to meet Mr. Hoffman. He graciously shook hands with us all. Though I was only a teenager I remembered him being about my height. And I recall thinking that his nose appeared very large in person.

Ran into this kid at the E3 video game show in L.A. in 2003. I shook his hand and said, "You were great in 'Holes.' That was a very underrated movie." He smiled, thanked me, and seemed sincerely appreciative of the compliment.

A short time after seeing "My Dinner with Andre" I was walking down the street in Manhattan and spotted Andre talking someone's ear off out front of an apartment building. As I passed I noticed it was Wally Shawn. They were still talking! I smiled and waved hello to him. He begrudgingly smiled and nodded.

Joey's from the neighborhood! I grew up a few towns away from where Joe Pesci lived. Long before his fame he acted in a very low-budget film made by a close family friend. A few months later my father and I ran into him at the local public golf course where we all sat down and had breakfast together. He was wear the cutest little golfer's hat; You just wanted to stick the guy on your front lawn!

She starred in a Lipsavers (Chapstick) commercial created by my father. This was a year or so before "Mork & Mindy." She gave me a smile upon passing once as I was the cute boy on the set.

Hung out with her among others for about a week in 1984 as my father oversaw the creation of a Transamerica commercial. She played the damsel in distress in a King Kong themed spot.

Carmine Coppola wrote the music for my father's Transamerica commercials in 1984. When I met him he realized that being a young person I might have heard of an actor named Nicholas Cage. I knew him from "Valley Girl" and said "Yes, I like him!" Mr. Coppola said proudly, "That's my grandson."

When I found out Coppola was shooting "The Cotton Club" in a diner on 23rd St. in Manhattan, I stalked him. He finally walked out of the diner wearing a long coat and his trademark tinted glasses. I said hello, shook his hand, and said a few embarrassing things like, "You know, your father and my father worked together!"

I had several encounters with Bruce on the Jersey shore. One time in the bar Big Man's West where he spent a good 20 minutes chatting it up with my girlfriend. I playfully intervened, and he told me she was being quite faithful. Another time I caught him out back of Big Man's peeing on a fence. I shouted, "Bruce! What are you doing?" He said, "Oh man, I feel like a dog." The last time I saw him was at the Stone Pony where I joined the crowd in singning to him on his 40th birthday.

At his club I put myself in front of him, shook his hand and told him his club was doing great! He didn't smile. He didn't say a word. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that the club was not doing great. It closed a few months later.

While waiting for our cars in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel I passed by Mr. Connick and said, "You were great in 'The Iron Giant.'" (Of all things, I complimented him on his role in a cartoon.) He said, "Thank you" without a smile. I noticed that his eyes were very blue. Then I said, "It was my second favorite movie of 1999." He didn't ask me what my favorite was ("The Matrix"); just unsmilingly said, "Thank you very much." I walked on, and he hid behind a pillar looking over some script until his car arrived.

Saw him walking the opposite direction on a sidewalk in Manhattan. I cheerfully said, "Hi!" He said Hi back with a characteristic Daniel Stern wincing smile.