close encounters

I live in Hollywood North. That's what they call Vancouver. It's a great city for filming movies. Something about our dollar being cheaper than the US buck. And that our weather is usually grey most of the time...apparently not good for suntanning but great for the lighting on films and TV series. As a result, studios film a lot of movies here. Most of the time, it's just annoying. Like when I went to the chiropractor on Tuesday, and had to park 4 blocks away because they had the street shut down for filming. Not good.
But, as a result of all this film activity, over the years, I have "bumped" into my fair share of celebrities. Some famous, some not so much. I also have a friend who works in lighting on movies and TV series, and he actually invited me to sit on set for a day to watch the filming of a TV show (more about that in a later post). So, I decided to start a series of posts call "Close Encounters". These are not "great" stories by any means. Just little snippets of my brushes with fame.
So, here is the first installment of my "Close Encounters" posts....and what a better one to start with than none other than...


Richard Dreyfuss
It was a sunny day in Vancouver....in summer of 1997, or 1998, or around there somewhere. I was walking around the Stanley Park seawall after work, when I looked up and saw Richard Dreyfuss, and a woman (assuming it was Mrs. Dreyfuss as they were walking hand in hand) walking directly toward me. As we pass, I smile and nod in their direction. He nods back. I say "Hey". He says "Hi". We pass each other. I am suddenly struck by how short he looks. I'm 5 foot 7 inches. He couldn't have been more than 5'3'' or 4''. I was also struck by how beautiful his wife was. She was slightly taller than him, but about the same age. Not the younger blonde bimbo type that you expect to see with most celebs. Older, yet very pretty. Anyways, I walked on...looked back once, but no one noticed. When people ask, I say, "yes, I met Richard Dreyfuss! We had a short conversation, but it was nothing special." :-)