2016 will definitely rank as a rough year for fans of pop culture, music and movies, one made even worse by the loss of famed Hollywood script doctor and occasional space princess/Huttslayer Carrie Fisher. One of my acquaintances remarked that the loss of Fisher hit her harder than she ever expected, as she always sort of hoped to meet her. That’s a common refrain for me as well, as recent years have deprived me of several people I would have loved to have met: Davy Jones, Joanie Laurer, even stretching back to the loss of Douglas Adams. I wish that I’d have had even a quick “Hey, how’s it goin’, pictures are twenny bucks” encounter with each of them and many others, leading to today’s memorial query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) still hopes that Mike Nesmith has a couple good decades and maybe a Kansas City meet-and-greet ahead of him, asking: Which personages of pop culture who are no longer with us do you most wish you had met?
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I wish I had an opportunity to see Mitsuharu Misawa wrestle live.
Fisher’s passing hit me fairly hard as well. Never met the woman, but she had such a presence in my youth, particularly in my time going through chemo and Star Wars was one of the only things that kept me sane from the pain and misery that heavy treatments and extended hospital stays bring.
But I think the person I most wish I could have met was Jon Pertwee. Not just because he was my first and one of my favorite incarnations of The Doctor, but he had many other roles I loved (Despite being born and raised in the US, I watched a lot of foreign TV and movies growing up, including British television series he was involved in such as Worzel Gummidge and SuperTed).
Alternately, Jack Kirby. He was probably the biggest influence on how my own art style developed (not mimicking his style directly, but the feel of that that sort of trippy cosmic style he was so good at bringing to life) back when I dreamed of becoming a comic artist myself.
I’m so bad at people when I’m nervous that I would be seriously worried were I to meet any of the wonderful people I really respect.
However, I wish I could’ve known Andre the Giant. All tales told he was a wonderful person, and I would dearly have liked him to know what he means to me.
He’s the one I’m grateful to have met. One of the few benefits of being a kid with cancer, you sometimes get an opportunity to meet famous people who visit children’s hospitals. The nurses or someone told him I was a big fan because he knew my name, and I was in so much shock that he knew my name that I just stood as still as a deer in headlights. But he was very patient and kind, and I still look back on that day as one of the best days of my life.
All of the horror icons, especially Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and as of last year, Christopher Lee. I saw their movies growing up, always wanted to shake their hand.
Carrie Fisher was one of my first childhood crushes. She played a female character that portrayed strength, dignity and leadership whom I loved and respected. Then, just as I was entering puberty, they put her in a metal bikini and made her a sex symbol too. Carrie Fisher seemed to be a very interesting person, but I don’t feel that I’d want to meet her, I almost feel that meeting celebrities ends up disappointing, especially when they get that look in their eyes like they’d rather be anywhere else. I’ve had the misfortune of seeing that look at many comic cons in the past few years.