I got to meet Keir Dullea!
July 4th and 5th will forever be the best days of my life!
Whew... sort of coherent. the basic gist of this is that we are leaving for home tomorrow so we needed to say goodbye to Keir (who seemed incredibly happy to see us and loved the cartoon I drew for him last night) and so after we gave Dee Wallace some drugs (Keir was telling us, pointing to Dee saying "That poor woman is having back spasms and they had to take her to a chiropractor at noon." We happened to have some aleeve and Dee accepted them readily), we went over to say goodbye and he immediately introduced us to a man who was standing nearby, talking about how big of a fan I was and how surprised he was at how many "small details and obscure facts" I knew... then he asked if we would be there tomorrow and when we said no, he pouted and said "So I have to say goodbye? Alright, I'll come around then" and he came around, arms outstretched, and gave me the biggest, warmest hug I've ever had. I was so much in shock when he hugged me but I didn't want to let go (obviously). Then he hugged my mom and bid us a very sweet farewell and said that we were a "wonderful duo" and he "loved meeting us".
I think I'll write up a full review of this because this is the best I have ever been treated by someone of any celebrity status in my adult life in a non-professional environment where circumstances allowed me to spend time with said celebrity. This is my best recollection because I am terrible at putting memories to words, especially when I am so awed that everything seems like a dream anyway.
In the two days we were in Roswell I think we spent over and hour and a half with him and he was exceptionally wonderful. As soon as I laid my comics down, he recognised them immediately, but even before that, when he first saw me he was smiling at me... and not a fake smile. No, this one was genuine. Maybe he was reading the smile on my face, that it too was genuine, but he was incredibly nice to us even to thos who were just there for "a celebrity autograph" he was incredibly cordial and apologetic as he explained over and over again that so many of the autograph shows are now where you have to pay for the autograph because everyone has been a victim of ebay. It's kind of a deterrent for someone who only wants their autograph to sell- which is why he tries to personalise everything as well because if they don't want it personalised, he knows it's going on eBay. As we started talking about things and he realised my depth of knowledge concerning his work, he invited us to hang around and wait as others came up to get autographs and move along. He was genuinely awed to think that someone would have a facebook group dedicated to him. He said he doesn't have a fanclub, has never had a fanclub, and seemed genuinely moved that he has a real fanbase. In fact, he said "I need to have a fanclub and I vote you to be president" when I said "Oh no, I couldn't do that. It's too big of a responsibility" he smiled and said "Yeah, I know what you mean". He also said "Do you want to write the article for wikipedia?" (which was another clue that he was more internet savvy than I or anyone else had given him credit for) I politely declined saying how I had been banned from wikipedia without going into details (true story!).
At one point, we stepped away from the table as he had a group of people and I made the remark "Oh look! He is technical! He's texting!" He was actually calling his wife and telling her about me! He was speaking with excitement in his voice! As we walked up, he was saying "Do you remember the girl who sent us the comics? She's HERE!" with true glee. I had Hal open then and that was when he saw the facebook group for the first time. He says to his wife "Look at this! I can't believe this! This is called the "Keir Dullea Appreciation Society"! Can you believe it? Facebook... is that what it is? Have you heard of it? Do you know what it is? Facebook." After he hung up from his wife he took Hal from me and despit quotes I've heard in the past from past interviews with him... he knows how to use a laptop. I think he woud've kept us there for the rest of the day and been happy browsing Hal and getting to know his facebook site but peope started arriving and we had to move on. He asked if we were leaving and we said no that we were thinking of seeing ET and could we come back to say goodbye. After that, he smiled sweetly and said "You guys are so special" and said "I'll see you tomorrow!"
We didn't go down today until around noon and when he spotted us, he had his glasses on and was reading a book and when he saw us, he said "Hi guys!" and he looked at my shirt and said "Which comic was that? Oh I remember that one!" and he read it aloud and laughed "Oh I remember that one!" I then gave him the latest comic and he read it laughing and then did something no one has EVER done. He asked the significance of one of the tiniest and yet most important details that no one else would've noticed. He asked about the key on the table and I explained that it was that Dave had locked himself out. This proved to me that he really does read through my comics cause he picked up such an small detail. We had to leave because more people came over but he asked again "but you are coming back, right? and we said yes and he smiled and said "see you later!"
When we returned he was not there but on a break so we sat down and rested for a bit, deciding not to see ET because there were so many little kids. When he did return, we let him get settled and then went over just to let him know that we weren't leaving yet but were just beating the heat and were lurking over on the stage on the side in the air conditioning where there was a plug for Hal. we let him continue with his work as there was a steady stream of people. I could've sat there listening to him for hours with the stories he told people, but my favourite one was where a woman asked him, "Did you play Hal?" and he smiled politely and said "No. I was Dave." He was also incredibly sweet to a little girl whose father was from the "Mexican Roswell Group". This little girl would come over to visit him and guard his table for him while he went on breaks. He then went on to say that she was such a sweet shy girl... and he liked that (lucky me as I was pretty darn shy around him). Every so often though, he would look over at us to make sure we were still there (at least I think it was Keir.. I felt someone's eyes on me so I hope it was him and not the Michael Jackson clone that was wandering around town). When we got to the point where we really needed to leave.. well this is where the first part of this post comes in since I wrote the ending first (much like in my novel).
All in all, the whole experience exceeded my wildest dreams. It is an experience I will always remember. Thank you so much, Keir! :-)
Still lookin' fine at 72. ;-)
Whew... sort of coherent. the basic gist of this is that we are leaving for home tomorrow so we needed to say goodbye to Keir (who seemed incredibly happy to see us and loved the cartoon I drew for him last night) and so after we gave Dee Wallace some drugs (Keir was telling us, pointing to Dee saying "That poor woman is having back spasms and they had to take her to a chiropractor at noon." We happened to have some aleeve and Dee accepted them readily), we went over to say goodbye and he immediately introduced us to a man who was standing nearby, talking about how big of a fan I was and how surprised he was at how many "small details and obscure facts" I knew... then he asked if we would be there tomorrow and when we said no, he pouted and said "So I have to say goodbye? Alright, I'll come around then" and he came around, arms outstretched, and gave me the biggest, warmest hug I've ever had. I was so much in shock when he hugged me but I didn't want to let go (obviously). Then he hugged my mom and bid us a very sweet farewell and said that we were a "wonderful duo" and he "loved meeting us".
I think I'll write up a full review of this because this is the best I have ever been treated by someone of any celebrity status in my adult life in a non-professional environment where circumstances allowed me to spend time with said celebrity. This is my best recollection because I am terrible at putting memories to words, especially when I am so awed that everything seems like a dream anyway.
In the two days we were in Roswell I think we spent over and hour and a half with him and he was exceptionally wonderful. As soon as I laid my comics down, he recognised them immediately, but even before that, when he first saw me he was smiling at me... and not a fake smile. No, this one was genuine. Maybe he was reading the smile on my face, that it too was genuine, but he was incredibly nice to us even to thos who were just there for "a celebrity autograph" he was incredibly cordial and apologetic as he explained over and over again that so many of the autograph shows are now where you have to pay for the autograph because everyone has been a victim of ebay. It's kind of a deterrent for someone who only wants their autograph to sell- which is why he tries to personalise everything as well because if they don't want it personalised, he knows it's going on eBay. As we started talking about things and he realised my depth of knowledge concerning his work, he invited us to hang around and wait as others came up to get autographs and move along. He was genuinely awed to think that someone would have a facebook group dedicated to him. He said he doesn't have a fanclub, has never had a fanclub, and seemed genuinely moved that he has a real fanbase. In fact, he said "I need to have a fanclub and I vote you to be president" when I said "Oh no, I couldn't do that. It's too big of a responsibility" he smiled and said "Yeah, I know what you mean". He also said "Do you want to write the article for wikipedia?" (which was another clue that he was more internet savvy than I or anyone else had given him credit for) I politely declined saying how I had been banned from wikipedia without going into details (true story!).
At one point, we stepped away from the table as he had a group of people and I made the remark "Oh look! He is technical! He's texting!" He was actually calling his wife and telling her about me! He was speaking with excitement in his voice! As we walked up, he was saying "Do you remember the girl who sent us the comics? She's HERE!" with true glee. I had Hal open then and that was when he saw the facebook group for the first time. He says to his wife "Look at this! I can't believe this! This is called the "Keir Dullea Appreciation Society"! Can you believe it? Facebook... is that what it is? Have you heard of it? Do you know what it is? Facebook." After he hung up from his wife he took Hal from me and despit quotes I've heard in the past from past interviews with him... he knows how to use a laptop. I think he woud've kept us there for the rest of the day and been happy browsing Hal and getting to know his facebook site but peope started arriving and we had to move on. He asked if we were leaving and we said no that we were thinking of seeing ET and could we come back to say goodbye. After that, he smiled sweetly and said "You guys are so special" and said "I'll see you tomorrow!"
We didn't go down today until around noon and when he spotted us, he had his glasses on and was reading a book and when he saw us, he said "Hi guys!" and he looked at my shirt and said "Which comic was that? Oh I remember that one!" and he read it aloud and laughed "Oh I remember that one!" I then gave him the latest comic and he read it laughing and then did something no one has EVER done. He asked the significance of one of the tiniest and yet most important details that no one else would've noticed. He asked about the key on the table and I explained that it was that Dave had locked himself out. This proved to me that he really does read through my comics cause he picked up such an small detail. We had to leave because more people came over but he asked again "but you are coming back, right? and we said yes and he smiled and said "see you later!"
When we returned he was not there but on a break so we sat down and rested for a bit, deciding not to see ET because there were so many little kids. When he did return, we let him get settled and then went over just to let him know that we weren't leaving yet but were just beating the heat and were lurking over on the stage on the side in the air conditioning where there was a plug for Hal. we let him continue with his work as there was a steady stream of people. I could've sat there listening to him for hours with the stories he told people, but my favourite one was where a woman asked him, "Did you play Hal?" and he smiled politely and said "No. I was Dave." He was also incredibly sweet to a little girl whose father was from the "Mexican Roswell Group". This little girl would come over to visit him and guard his table for him while he went on breaks. He then went on to say that she was such a sweet shy girl... and he liked that (lucky me as I was pretty darn shy around him). Every so often though, he would look over at us to make sure we were still there (at least I think it was Keir.. I felt someone's eyes on me so I hope it was him and not the Michael Jackson clone that was wandering around town). When we got to the point where we really needed to leave.. well this is where the first part of this post comes in since I wrote the ending first (much like in my novel).
All in all, the whole experience exceeded my wildest dreams. It is an experience I will always remember. Thank you so much, Keir! :-)
Still lookin' fine at 72. ;-)