What Do Bruce Willis & Roger Rees Have In Common?

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New York can be great for celeb sightings, but I haven't had a good one since I saw Hugh Laurie last year walking on 7th Avenue and 57th Street.

And then all of a sudden within a space of three weeks, I had three.  My first sighting was while I was waiting for Kay and Collin in the theatre district a couple of weeks ago.  We were going to see "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone and I was waiting across the street to avoid the crowd in front of our theatre.

Well these two guys strolled slowly by reading the theatre posters next to me.  One man was a shortish  blond, and the other was taller, with greying, dark hair.  The dark haired man struck me as someone I'd seen before and I thought, "Is that...?" 

Surreptitiously I watched as they went down the block and then again as they came back in my direction.  When the gentleman with dark hair walked within chatting distance, I asked in my most non-celeb stalker voice, "Excuse me sir, but are you Roger Rees?"

The skin around his eyes crinkled when he smiled and he said, "Why, yes."

Now I was stuck.   What was I going to say now?  Something about one of his roles?  What did I see him in last?

Was it:

"I loved you on "The West Wing," oh, six years ago..."  Nah.

Or:

You were great in "Nicholas Nickleby," now that was a role!"  No, that was no good.  Partly because it was a role he played twenty years ago.

So I fell back on the good manners my mother taught me, smiled and said:

"I love your work."

He smiled back and in that lovely British accent said, "Why, thank you."

I got a little tingle.  Roger Rees.  All British and classy.  How neat.

It didn't occur to me until later that I'd last seen him in "The Prestige," an excellent movie by the way. 

A few minutes later, Kay and Collin strolled up and were extremely impressed when I told my story.  First that I knew what Roger Rees looked like and second that he spoke to me.

Also in the audience at "Gypsy" that night was a sort of celeb, but this time of fashion, Isaac Mizrahi. His hair was just as freakish as it appears on TV and we speculated that it probably took him two hours to make it look like he hadn't touched it since he woke up that morning.

Sighting number two was outside the ABC studios on 66th Street last week.  I was on a bus and I happened to see Brandon Buddy who plays Cole Thornhart on ABC's "One Live To Live." He was walking back to the studio with what looked like lunch.  I almost didn't recognize him because he wasn't wearing his usual, "Todd Manning beat me up" makeup.  His face looked so average and normal, I almost missed him.  Cute kid.

Finally, the Big Kahuna, a true A-list celeb sighting.

Lucy and I went out last Saturday to a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert.  We saw Wynton Marsalis in a concert that also showcased tap and flamenco dancers.  Though heavy duty jazz isn't always my taste, I love dance and that part of the show was very good. 

When Lucy and I were leaving we took a series of escalators down from the sixth floor.  We got to the level where Bar Masa is and Lucy was in front of me.  All of a sudden she turned to me over her shoulder and gestured behind me.

"Brsss Wllssss!"

"What?"

She said, slightly louder, "Bruce Willissss," and nodded over my right shoulder.  I turned around and sure enough, there not four feet from me was Bruce Willis on his cellphone.  Lucy turned back around as if to keep going and I hissed at her, "Slw dwnnn!"

"What?"

I said again slightly louder, "Slow down."  And then gestured that we move to the side railing of the landing so we could keep our distance but still get in a good ogle.

And what an ogle.  I gotta tell you, Bruce needs to hire some better cinematographers for his films or something because his looks on camera do not do him justice at all.  The man is a super hottie.  He was wearing a white tailored shirt and blue jeans and had that confident air about him that comes across so well on screen.  I love good looking bald men and that night, Bruce had the bald head working.

Lucy and I couldn't get over how attractive he was.  And the only thing more fun than the ogling was watching people coming behind us do double takes when they saw him.

He knew people were looking at him, but he just stayed near the entrance of the restaurant and kept talking on the phone.

These two Spanish women next to Lucy starting speaking to her in Spanish and all I kept hearing was, "...hombre....Bruce Willis..." and then they would chuckle.

The four of us stood there enjoying the unexpected man candy treat until a woman who came after us, took out her cellphone to snap a picture.  As soon as he saw that, still on his phone, he turned his back and moved into an alcove so we couldn't see him.  Show over.

I could have kicked that woman in the shins.  Way to make it bad for the rest of us.  Anyway, those were my brushes with celeb greatness over the last couple of weeks.  You just never know who you're gonna see.

Also in the audience at "Gypsy" that night was a sort of celeb, but this time of fashion, Isaac Mizrahi. His hair was just as freakish as it appears on TV and we speculated that it probably took him two hours to make it look like he hadn't touched it since he woke up that morning.

Sighting number two was outside the ABC studios on 66th Street last week.  I was on a bus and I happened to see Brandon Buddy who plays Cole Thornhart on ABC's "One Live To Live." He was walking back to the studio with what looked like lunch.  I almost didn't recognize him because he wasn't wearing his usual, "Todd Manning beat me up" makeup.  His face looked so average and normal, I almost missed him.  Cute kid.

Finally, the Big Kahuna, a true A-list celeb sighting.

Lucy and I went out last Saturday to a Jazz at Lincoln Center concert.  We saw Wynton Marsalis in a concert that also showcased tap and flamenco dancers.  Though heavy duty jazz isn't always my taste, I love dance and that part of the show was very good. 

When Lucy and I were leaving we took a series of escalators down from the sixth floor.  We got to the level where Bar Masa is and Lucy was in front of me.  All of a sudden she turned to me over her shoulder and gestured behind me.

"Brsss Wllssss!"

"What?"

She said, slightly louder, "Bruce Willissss," and nodded over my right shoulder.  I turned around and sure enough, there not four feet from me was Bruce Willis on his cellphone.  Lucy turned back around as if to keep going and I hissed at her, "Slw dwnnn!"

"What?"

I said again slightly louder, "Slow down."  And then gestured that we move to the side railing of the landing so we could keep our distance but still get in a good ogle.

And what an ogle.  I gotta tell you, Bruce needs to hire some better cinematographers for his films or something because his looks on camera do not do him justice at all.  The man is a super hottie.  He was wearing a white tailored shirt and blue jeans and had that confident air about him that comes across so well on screen.  I love good looking bald men and that night, Bruce had the bald head working.

Lucy and I couldn't get over how attractive he was.  And the only thing more fun than the ogling was watching people coming behind us do double takes when they saw him.

He knew people were looking at him, but he just stayed near the entrance of the restaurant and kept talking on the phone.

These two Spanish women next to Lucy starting speaking to her in Spanish and all I kept hearing was, "...hombre....Bruce Willis..." and then they would chuckle.

The four of us stood there enjoying the unexpected man candy treat until a woman who came after us, took out her cellphone to snap a picture.  As soon as he saw that, still on his phone, he turned his back and moved into an alcove so we couldn't see him.  Show over.

I could have kicked that woman in the shins.  Way to make it bad for the rest of us.  Anyway, those were my brushes with celeb greatness over the last couple of weeks.  You just never know who you're gonna see.