Who have you met who is nice?

[Panavision]

Morning, luvvies! We often hear that some of our screen heroes and heroines are often rather different in private life, but who have you met that lived up to your expectations? I'll start the ball rolling, topically, with Sir Norman Wisdom, a few years ago. So pleasant and friendly - he seemed quite shy, really! I do hope he's okay in the nursing home.

[Marky B]

John Le Mesurier,whilst appearing at the Billingham Forum in Dad's Army. A very charming man.

Ta Ta

Marky B

[Lord Brett]

Gareth Hunt and Robin Asquith, while touring in Willy Russell''s One for the Road (them, not me!). Really good fun and happy to talk, especially when on a long tour and probably missing loved ones.

[Fellwanderer]

I don't think I really have to name the absolutely stunning lady who I can most definitely assure everyone is even nicer, if that is possible, in real life than she appears on screen and I'm now lucky enough to call a friend.



She is quite popular on here!

[smudge]

Elisabeth Sladen - whilst weekend conventioning...



Lovely lady - very friendly, extremely polite and a great sense of fun



Delightful all round.



Smudge

[Wee Sonny MacGregor]

Leslie Phillips - absolute gent - as is Richard Todd. Lord and Lady Attenborough, Muriel Pavlow, Bryan Forbes and his wife - all happy to chat

[Tony Pendrey]

Jeremy Northam took time to come over and chat to few of us when he was in Whitby filming "Possession". Perfet gent. His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow went to great lengths to avoid beiing seen at all.



She upset the local dignatries by turning down the offer of fish & chips in the famous Magpie cafe. Apparently she prefers hers wrapped in paper with a bloody great wally.



Same week I bumped into Mick Fleetwood in a pub there. Likes a pint.



Finally, I met Adrian Edmundson on the Isle of Wight when they were filming scenes for the appalling "Guest House Paradiso". He, and everyone else knew it was rubbish. Seems they were fulfilling some kind of contractual obligation.

[dylan]

I was an extra on a location shoot for Ant and Dec's show. They both made a point of talking to the extras and when we left they both stood by the door shaking our hands and thanking us. They were the last to leave.



D.

[billy farmer]

in november last year i met my favourite doctor who tom baker at the television and movie store in norwich he signed dr who items for me and i had a photograph taken with him in december i met colin baker at the same store he was very friendly he signed 3 dr who items for me and he put his arm round me when i had a photo taken with him tomorrow i will be seeing nicholas courtney (the brigadier) at the same store.

[Fellwanderer]

I think it's great when one is able to meet someone one admires and they turn out to be every bit as good as one hoped.



Nice to see so many positive posts here - glad to see Ant and Dec aren't as shallow as I've always thought.



Should have mentioned Lindsey Coulson who I met at a charity do in October and had a long chat with. A very pleasant and down-to-earth lady.

[BillTurner80]

I met the then mere Anthony Hopkins while I was working as an extra in Coniston during the shoot of 'Across the Lake', the story of Donald Campbell's ill-fated attempt of the water speed record.

I was actually booked as his 'stand in', in other words, just 'stand in there' while they set up the camera for a particular shot, but he poo-pooed that idea on the day of my arrival and I thought I'd be thrown off the set. But he met me and apologised and we started chatting. In the end I was invited to do the shoot anyway and had the honour of breakfasting with him on each of the six days of the location shoot.

Actually, I'd taken my dog with me and I think she was the cause of his softheatedness. She would sit under the table and help him eat his breakfast!

Happy days!

[dremble wedge]

I met Keith Allen in a pub and he was very nice.



I also met Arthur Smith in similar circumstances and he was a complete and utter scoundrel: all 'look at me I'm on TV'...

[Lord Brett]

name='Tony Pendrey']Jeremy Northam took time to come over and chat to few of us when he was in Whitby filming "Possession". Perfet gent. His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow went to great lengths to avoid beiing seen at all.



She upset the local dignatries by turning down the offer of fish & chips in the famous Magpie cafe. Apparently she prefers hers wrapped in paper with a bloody great wally.

I've an idea that Gwyneth Paltrow is Vegan, making fish permanently off the menu.



Still, there are ways of turning people down nicely (I used to hear a lot of them when I was single and asking girls out!).

[Joenoir]

When visiting the BBC in Manchester I met Martin Jarvis who was recording a radio play. He went out of his way to find time to talk to our party, a very friendly, polite man.

[Moor Larkin]

Mine were kind of working. They were all doing the dreaded Personal Appearances but I dealt with most of them 'behind the scenes' so they could have been as rude as they liked. I was just a skivvy.



Leslie Crowther - delightful and a boyhood hero of mine from !Crackerjack!

June Brown - very well-spoken and friendly - liked a ciggy though.

Lesley Joseph - very bubbly and incredibly willing to please her fans.

Jeremy Hardy - he was working a proper show and I was introduced in the bar afterwards. Very easy to talk to, and chatty.

Jimmy Cricket - one of the best 'gag' merchants I've ever seen. He was very quiet and focussed on getting things right.



Diana Dors was my only A-Lister. She was brusquely professional but did remark I was cute (I was very young and still almost blond) as she psyched herself to walk into her adoring public.



There's a few others (I'll post as they come to mind). None of them will remember me......



Guys on here who worked in theatres must have reams and reams of names they could reel off..........

[Steve Crook]

Lord & Lady Attenborough, often turning up to screenings of A Canterbury Tale where Sheila introduces it and talks to people about her memories of it. Lord Dickie has also shared his memories of how he got involved (briefly) in A Matter of Life and Death



Jack Cardiff, always a joy to meet. 93 and still working when a project interests him enough. Still travelling around giving masterclasses and talks, introducing films and sharing his memories of them



I met Leo Marks & Virginia McKenna at the opening of the Violette Szabo museum in Herefordshire. Virginia made the main speech and spent the whole afternoon talking to people and signing things. Leo was very quiet and introspective. I spoke to him briefly about his work with Powell but that day was obviously for Violette so I left him to his memories. Sadly he died shortly after that so we never had a chance to get together again.



Lots of other cast and crew from the P&P films, all of them very nice.

Lots of family members of the cast & crew of P&P films, all of them very nice.

Lots of other admirers of P&P films, famous or not, all of them very nice.



A special mention for Thelma Schoonmaker, Michael Powell's widow and Scorsese's multi Oscar winning editor. A very busy lady but she always makes time for us in the P&P Appreciation Society and has been very helpful.



I find that with most people, no matter what their level of fame or position, if you treat them normally then they're usually very nice. Don't interrupt them when they're obviously busy doing something else. Don't just play the fawning fan but talk to them reasonably and honestly and they usually respond in a similar way.



Steve

[Fellwanderer]

name='Steve Crook']



I find that with most people, no matter what their level of fame or position, if you treat them normally then they're usually very nice. Don't interrupt them when they're obviously busy doing something else. Don't just play the fawning fan but talk to them reasonably and honestly and they usually respond in a similar way.



Steve

That's spot on!



I've only heard first hand of two well-known figures who have proved to be obnoxious - one in the news media and one in sport.

[Steve Crook]

name='Steve Crook']I find that with most people, no matter what their level of fame or position, if you treat them normally then they're usually very nice. Don't interrupt them when they're obviously busy doing something else. Don't just play the fawning fan but talk to them reasonably and honestly and they usually respond in a similar way.



Steve

I should have said "Don't just play the fawning fan - even if you are one"

There are some famous people I've met where we were having such a nice friendly chat that it would have seemed crass to then ask for an autograph - so I didn't.



Oh, and always ask before taking a photo. Give them a chance to prepare themselves. Then you usually finish up with a better photo - like my one of Leo Marks at Hereford



I love that mischievous smile of his



Steve

[batman]

I have met a fair few 'celebs' over the years. The ones who spring to mind as being particularly nice are ...



Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper, Patrick Mower, Dennis Waterman, Peter Cushing and Leslie Grantham.



There have also been several who have stuck in my mind as being particularly obnoxious, but I shall keep those names to myself.



Bats.

[Dame Starry]

I used to serve Francis de Wolffe in the village shop in Newick, Sussex in the early '70s; a lovely eccentric gentleman who liked a drink or four! He even brought his son and daughter in the shop to meet us - his daughter (17 then) was as tall as her Dad who was 6'+! He was known in the village as 'The Baron'.



I was a great fan of the series Justice with Margaret Lockwood & Philip Stone and I was late for work one morning in the City (London). I ran up some steps (I was younger, slimmer & fitter then), turned a corner to go between two buildings and went SMACK!...............into Philip Stone.

I had to make a quick decision: do I stop and talk and be late for work or do I just apologise and try and get into work on time? As I was a Civil Servant - and, if anyone had seen me, I would have been disciplined for making myself late, I had to apologise and he was so nice - made sure I was OK, no need to apologise etc and I ran off and just made it in time!

He played some quite 'oily' parts - especially one in A Touch Of Frost - but he was really lovely in real life. I always thought that he was a wonderful actor.

I still regret that I didn't stop that morning.



My son met Matthew Kelly and reckoned he was just one of the nicest people he had ever met - famous or not. And he must have been, otherwise my boy wouldn't have even bothered to mention he'd met him at all!



All the other encounters were in my dreams...............and ongoing!



YDSL x.