In my decades as an airline pilot I steadfastly ignored or avoided “famous” people. Example:
The company once deadheaded me - in uniform - from Miami to Denver in first class next to the football quarterback Joe Namath. I sit down; he says “Hi, I’m Joe”. I answer “Hi Joe, I’m John.” We both spend the next four hours reading. After landing in Denver, my next words to him are “Nice to meet you, Joe”. Answer: “Same here, John. See ya”.
One exception: In 1980 or so, before an early Sunday morning departure from Cleveland to New York, the gate agent asked me “We’ve got a Mr. Myron Cohen - a comedian - as our only passenger in first class. Do you know who he is?” (I grew up in a heavily Jewish neighborhood and knew him and all his routines by heart.) He had spent his life in the garment industry and, at the urging of friends, entered into comedy after retirement. On board, I briefed the flight attendants as to who he was. So, Mr. Cohen spent the entire flight with three admiring young ladies flitting about him. As he departed, I stood at the cockpit door and said “Much better than being a pants cutter, Mr. Cohen?” That was the punch line of one of his most famous jokes. He grinned ear to ear and shook my hand. (-:
Thanks of sharing those stories. They were great.