I don’t quite recall how the conversation transpired, but it happened while Bonaparte and I were enjoying our aperitifs last night.
Oddly enough, we had our aperitifs outside on the deck last night. I’m calling Mother Nature and I’m asking her to give me some Fall weather!
Perhaps my Frenchman was trying to distract me from the events of the weekend—the events where my foray into video making almost gave me a complete emotional breakdown. Actually, it did give me a complete emotional breakdown.
Regardless, we got into this weird conversation about celebrities we’ve met. Naturally, I couldn’t hold a candle to ol’ Bonaparte’s meetings with various celebrities throughout his life in Paris and St. Tropez, but my competitive nature started to kick in.
Bonaparte fondly recalled days at Le Moulin and the movie stars and various French celebrities that would come and join the family for weekend fun. And when I realized that I could never top his privileged and celebrity-filled younger days in France, I had to think quickly.
This is Le Moulin, the estate of Bonaparte’s aunt, Daniele Delorme and her husband, Yves Robert. Bonaparte spent almost all of his weekends here when they owned the home.
Where would I be without Gettyimages? Here’s Yves and Daniele back in the day..
When Bonaparte told me that Brigitte Bardot was often a guest, I cursed the fact I did not know my husband back then. Oops! If I did, he would have been in deep trouble because he’s 11 years older than I am. But BARDOT!!! BARDOT!!!!!
Well, even though Daniel Gelin was Bonaparte’s uncle and Daniele’s first husband, he was a popular French actor–and he was a frequent guest of Yve’s and Daniele’s. Very friendly extended family!
The beautiful Nathalie Baye was also a guest that Bonaparte met..
Miou-Miou, the talented actress pictured here with the incredibly talented and tragic Patrick Dewaere was also a guest. Man–Bonaparte got to meet some pretty cool people!
Charles freaking Aznavour was not only a frequent guest, but he entertained everyone with his piano playing and songs!!!!
The fabulous Jean Rochefort was a regular guest and a great friend of Bonaparte’s family. He was very, very nice and sweet when I got to meet him. R.I.P. This great actor left us recently.
I started thinking of all the celebrities that my son Roman gets to meet on Fallon and SNL.
Roman, hard at work holding a welcoming cue card for Fallon!
And the personalities that my son Jake gets to meet with his career out in L.A.
Jake–at the Grammy awards a few years ago!
Even Oona, who lives in Cincinnati gets to see the city’s own pride and joy—the Lachey Brothers at their establishment.
Cincy’s own–The Lachey Brothers–Drew and Nick!! And they are very nice guys!!!!
I have had a few encounters in my time. And my big come back remark was “Hey. I know people too!” (When in reality, I know nobody!)
But I’ll pretend that I do and I’ll brag, boast, humbly tell you about very real and very true celebrity encounters now!
Al Franken both with Tom Davis and Al Franken by himself. This makes me very happy because I plan on writing to Al (wink) and asking him if he will run for President of these United States. It would be so important to me if I could join in a conversation and say “Oh, I knew (hardly) Al Franken back in the day.” “He came to a party that I had and I performed with him and Tom Davis at Town Hall in New York”.
Franken & Davis, in my opinion, the greatest comedy duo since Martin & Lewis. It was a pleasure performing with these guys!
It’s true though. My ex-husband and I attended “An Evening With Franken and Davis” at Town Hall. The comedy team, funny as ever, needed a volunteer from the audience to perform in a skit. I had a front-row seat. And nobody else had the chance because I practically jumped up on the stage.
The skit went well, and I was rewarded with an invite to join the after-party. It was there that I met Gilda Radnor who was a very warm and genuine person. She was shocked that I wasn’t a “ringer”. We had an animated conversation and she commended me on a job well-done!
Yes! I met THE Gilda Radnor–and she spoke to me and told me I was great!!!!
Pete Townshend was also at the party. I had the pleasure of meeting him and he was cordial but aloof.
Meeting Pete Townshend of the Who was pretty cool. He was very quiet and reserved.
The funny thing about this whole thing is that this happened at a time when we had no cellphones. Had the iPhone been around back then, I would have the skit recorded. Selfies with Franken, Davis and Radnor would have been snapped and passed to my friends. Um…I don’t think Pete Townshend would have been up for a selfie though!
I’m also thinking that a good deal of the public personas could only wish that cell phones had never been created due to the camera aspect. Privacy seemed more precious back then.
Shortly after that skit, I had a little get together with some of my friends who attended Katharine Gibbs with me. I invited Al Franken. He showed up and Al and me and the girls all had a great time! Proving that he is a man of the people! He would make a great President!
Al Franken’s move to politics has made me very happy. He’s a stand up man and cares about people. I want him to run for President!
During my years of living in Manhattan, I did have a few encounters with celebrities. Among them—
I met Andy Kaufman at a party that my friend Rondi had back when we were all single and living in NYC. It was during his wrestling phase and he picked me out to wrestle with him. YES. I WRESTLED ANDY KAUFMAN and I was laughing so hard he pinned me in two seconds. But look! A photo of him as my favorite artist–Gustave Courbet! I knew I liked this guy! R.I.P.
I had a great encounter with Carly Simon back when Tower Records had a location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Jake was in school and Roman was still in a stroller. Carly Simon came over to me and told me that my son was very cute. Little did she know that a few months prior, I was up late at night nursing Roman–he was sick and Simon was a guest on a late night TV show. Her dress was low cut and Roman crawled up to the TV and tried to breastfeed from her TV image. This is a totally true story!!!
Another encounter was Robin Williams. I was standing alone, waiting for someone, I can’t remember who–but it was a side street in NYC. It was during the afternoon when all was quiet and he passed by with a little “hello”. It’s a nice memory.
But the one encounter that will stand out as the most spectacular was when John Kennedy Jr. stopped to help me one day. I was on the way to pick up the boys at school. They were attending St. Ignatius Loyola on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Oona was two years old.
Still young enough for the stroller. My Oona had no idea that the handsomest man in the world would pat her cheek!
As was my routine to drive to the school some time before school ended for the day, I would park the car (because I knew the alternate side parking schedule for every street in the area), and run errands.
This one particular day, I was bogged down with packages hanging from the stroller and it started to tip back. The package I had in my hand dropped to the ground. John Kennedy Jr. was passing by and saw me. And didn’t he stop to assist this damsel in distress.
I am telling you, photos did not do this man justice. It’s a shame he is no longer with us. But let me tell you that his mother raised one helpful and charming son!
I almost had a heart attack. Let me tell you something. I had seen him back when I was working on Wall Street before my stay-at-home mom days. The Wall Street area was a very small community back then and it seemed as though during lunch time, every building emptied out. John Kennedy was so good looking that when he was out on the street, women would just stop in their tracks to admire him. He was a modern-day Adonis.
The fact I finally saw him up close and personal just about took my breath away. He bent down, picked up my package then stopped when he saw Oona in the stroller. Then he touched her cheek and said, “Your daughter is beautiful”. How do you answer that???????
What I wanted to say was “You are the most beautiful specimen of humanity that I’ve ever laid eyes upon.” “You are even more handsome than your photographs!!”
Instead, I just thanked him and didn’t wash Oona’s face for a week!
Oh—if cell phones had been created back then, I would have taken Oona out of her stroller, placed her in young Mr. Kennedy’s arms and would have had a field day taking photos!!!
And as time marches on, I find myself less enthralled with spotting the famous and infamous these days.
Daniele, the actor Antoine Bourseiller and me hanging out on Pont Neuf. This photo has to be about ten or eleven years old. I know people.
It seemed back then—a good 25 to 30 years ago, it was the stories we told of our interaction with those of the celebrity nature.–we didn’t whip our phones out to display the photos! Stories are a thing of the past because now those spotting’s or engaging moments are told not with words, but with our iPhone cameras.
I’ll be honest. I use my phone more to take photos than to call people!
I think I like the stories better. Wait! I DO like the stories better!!!!
What about you? Do you have any chance encounters with the famous that you would like to tell us about? It’ll be fun to read your words and come up with a visual in our minds rather than a selfie.
Do tell!
Today’s video is my introduction to my YouTube channel. It only took me three hours to figure out how to add this “trailer” to my YouTube channel. I have to admit to you. I want my channel to be a success because it so out of the norm. No fillers. No Botox. Wrinkles galore—but it’s natural. And I want it to be that way. But this blog is still my baby and I’m most at ease writing words!!!
- Oh. The story I could tell you about how long it took me to add this as a “trailer” would take forever! Remember to “like” if you like the video and hit “subscribe”. I can’t even any more today!!!