The day I met the Unsinkable Molly Brown


Although all of my Los Angeles friends have long since moved away, taking their million-dollar profits on their houses into other states, to drive up the cost of real estate there, there was a time many years ago when I could always count on being able to sleep on a friend's couch, just to get out out town. My friends were all single, or divorced, so they weren't upset by this, and all I needed to do was to bring a toothbrush. There was absolutely no point to my visits other than getting out of town, and seeing my old neighborhoods in LA.

If you're familiar with LA, you know a place called Studio City, which is a pleasant neighborhood, and absolutely infested with actors, models, etc. I mean, they gotta live somewhere, right? So you can't really avoid them, and they can be a lot of fun to hang out with. And no, I'm not talking about "A" list celebrities, these are people who have been on that one commercial you may remember, or were extras on "Titanic" or whatever. But they're all the same - nice people, always looking for the next gig, terribly busy during shooting, then killing time waiting for the next call.

My friend lived in Studio City, and I visited there quite often. He was an old bachelor like me, but he shared a house with a roommate, and so people were always coming and going there. He never stood on ceremony, so if he forgot that I was coming to visit, and saw me sleeping on the couch, he was never upset. He worked from home and was usually around, except for one time when he was away, and asked his then-girlfriend to check on me. She came over with a group of friends and we sat there at the big dining room table and talked. It was wonderful.

His girlfriend was, of course, an actress (or actor as I learned that female actors prefered to be called), and as near as I could tell she was just kicking around with her friends waiting for the next call. Like her, they were all pretty girls (one was over six feet tall as I recall!), but there was one person who was clearly a "character actor", who was introduced to me as Kathy Bates. Unlike most actors I met, I actually did see the movie that she was in, which was Titanic. She was the Unsinkable Molly Brown.

And here's where it gets all "Hollywood", because it can be difficult to know what actors are really like away from the camera. She was charming, funny, and dynamic. Now calm down there, this isn't a "Rom Com" story, if anything it's a Bromance because I was very happy to eventually see my friend, but I want to tell you what an amazing person Ms. Bates was. Yes, she looked the same as in the movies I had seen her in, a little older and a little more, uh, full-figured than the rest of the girls, but her personality is what I remember. I've known very few people who could tell stories and be interesting and funny, but she could. It was clear to me that in addition to her celebrity, she was someone that people wanted to hang out with.

This is what star quality looks like IRL (In Real Life) and it's amazing. I'm glad that I got to meet the Unsinkable Molly Brown!
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