“Sweet Baby” was the pet name that Rebecca Howe (played by Kirstie Alley) gave to her rich lover Robin Colcord (Roger Rees) in one of my all-time favorite sitcoms Cheers. And one of my favorite lines from the show comes about when Sam asks Rebecca how she was going to break it off with Robin. She replies, as she is reduced to comical Lucy-esque tears, “That’s it, sweet baby!” While in London, England on Friday, April 2, 2010, I got a chance to meet the sweet baby himself, Roger Rees – although at the time, I didn’t even know who I was getting my picture with.
After seeing the Andrew Lloyd Webber play Love Never Dies, my friend Bob and I walked over to the nearby Haymarket Theatre in an 
effort to get an autograph from Ian McKellen, who was starring in Waiting for Godot at this location.
While waiting for McKellen, another one of the performers came out and apologized for ‘keeping us waiting’ and began signing autographs. Bob said he recognized him but couldn’t remember his name. Just in case he was someone famous, we approached him and got our pictures taken with him. After he hopped into his car and drove off, I asked another patron of the theatre who the guy was who had just signed for him and they told me that it was Roger Rees.
Yikes! A star from one of my very favorite sitcoms and I hadn’t even recognized him! Thankfully, although I almost never ask for a picture with a celebrity whom I don’t know, I did it anyway this time. And although I didn’t get his autograph (which I typically don’t even try if I don’t have anything relevant for them to sign), I had the pleasure of meeting the deliciously rich and snide Robin Colcord of Cheers fame.
And as you might expect me to say, that’s it, sweet baby.
This concludes the celebrities of London. Return to the first here…
Return to Friday in London here…
I liked him best as the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks’s Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Wow-wee!!!
Chris
May 28th, 2010
I can see why you didn’t recognize him. He’s actually a damn good actor.
eric flinn
May 29th, 2010