Meeting celebrities sometimes interesting

I’ve watched many celebrities come and go in the North State and met some of them.

One recent encounter with the country western music legend Charlie Daniels, the headliner for the 2011 Shasta District Fair, was enlightening to say the least.

I was waiting to take photos of Charlie’s meet and greet crowd just outside his touring RV and the door opened. One of his staff invited me in to visit with the country western singer. I was dumbfounded to be invited in several minutes early to just sit and visit.

“Com ‘on in and sit down,” a deep voice said as I entered the spacious motor home.

There he was in a cowboy hat with a stack of photos waiting to be autographed.

He invited me for a photo with him, which was taken by one of his tour crew members, and then he signed it just like he did more than 20 times again for the others that came for a photo and autograph.

While we visited, he compared our weather with Tennessee’s. He was a real country gentleman that had those mean fiddle bows he traditionally shred to “smithereens” during songs.

As I began taking photos, a young girl came along in the line of eager fans waiting to be photographed with Charlie. She brought her fiddle and bow and played a short excerpt from a song just for him. He smiled at her and asked if she’d like to have one of his fiddle bows.

Her face lit up like she’d won a trip to Disneyland.

“Go get one of my bows,” Charlie instructed a crew member. Everyone applauded when Charlie handed her one of his famous bows.

Once on stage, the country western celebrity played “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” to a packed grandstands and dress circle and in the middle of the song, that bow hair literally flew apart, forcing him to grab another bow.

I guess that’s why he always has lots of extra bows on his stage tour trips.

When I lived in Jacksonville, Ore., I ran into a number of celebrities including Millie Perkins, well-known for her Hollywood movie roles in The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959. She had a home in Jacksonville back then and lived there most of the time giving theater lessons in her living room to aspiring young performers. I wouldn’t have known she was a celebrity had somebody not told me who she was. I ran into her all the time downtown and talked about everything but Hollywood and acting in movies. I’ve seen many movies she played roles in and I’ve recognized her in most of them.

John Mitchum was another celebrity who visited Jacksonville periodically. His brother was the famous Robert Mitchum, who starred in many popular movies.

I sat next to John at the counter of the Jacksonville Bakery, his favorite hangout when he came to town. We locals chatted with him about all kinds of local happenings, but never Hollywood.

I met Linda Evans in Jacksonville and watch as the movie crew prepared for a shoot at the Neunan House on Old Stage Road. The historical, turn of the century structure was the backdrop for some scenes of the movie Linda was starring in.

She was very pleasant and didn’t mind the additional locals hanging around. I was with Mitchum’s good friend, Robert “Bob” Adleman, novelist, historian and restaurateur, who knew all the stars. Adleman joked about living in Malibu in his home that was formerly owned by Burgess Meredith.

I’ll never forget the day the Jacksonville filming took place as there was a misty rain falling that day. As we all waited around, I couldn’t keep from admiring the hat Linda wore that day. It had a western-Aussie flair that was very flattering.

I went looking all over Southern Oregon for that hat and never did come up with the exact one. I came close, though. In one shop there it was the almost perfect double for the hat. Was it the same brand? Well it couldn’t have been the same brand hat that Linda Evans wore in the movie, I’m sure.

But, the movie stars are all people, from all walks of life. They aren’t much different from the rest of us in most ways. They’re just recognized by more people for their individual talents.