Post #109418 by vintagegirl on Fri, Aug 20, 2004 8:00 PM

Several years ago I used to do side jobs photographing celebrities at movie premieres and parties. (Ok, so I guess that made me paparazzi, but I never shot a celeb outside of public events, and always with their permission.) (And Ok, so you probably expect to see a lot of celebs at a place like that, but I usually didn't care about who they were, I just shot the photos.)

ANYWAY, I was shooting folks coming out of the premiere to "The Saint" (with Val Kilmer) and who did I see unexpectedly but my teen idols Nick Rhodes and Simon LeBon (from Duran Duran) exiting. I did my job and shot a few shots of them, but then started thinking how at age 14 I would've been peeing my pants if the same situation happened. So I handed my camera to a photographer buddy of mine and went over a few steps to where Nick was waiting for his limo. (Simon had already walked down the blocked to his limo.) He obliged me graciously in posing for a photo with me and I thanked him.

"I felt like a little schoolgirl."

I also nearly backed into Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in an elevator as I was trying to sneak into the Golden Globe Awards after-party.

Then there's seeing Molly Ringwald shopping for vintage clothes in Studio City.

But maybe the best one was having dinner with my best friend at Chin Chin restaurant in Studio City about 11 years ago. We were at a table near the door when Bob Hope, his wife and another elderly couple came in for dinner. Our waiter said he came in often since he lived only about a mile away from there. I got up the nerve to ask him for an autograph and he was very pleasant and still coherent then. I'll always remember the gusto with which he ate his pork spare ribs.