I haven’t made any secret of my affinity for the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it’s episodes like the incredibly creepy, freaky, and utterly original Hush that explain why. This particular episode aired in 1999 and caused nightmares the world over with some of scariest creatures ever to grace any screen. Even apart from the originality of making the monsters steal the voices of our heroes (thus rendering the episode mostly silent), are the Gentlemen themselves, which were inspired by a nightmare the show’s creator Joss Whedon had as a child. The characters immediately became iconic, and thus getting the chance to meet two of them was quite cool indeed.
The first of the two whom I met was Doug Jones – who was appearing at the Hollywood Show on August 4, 2012. Doug was the ‘Lead Gentleman’, and as a contortionist actor has also worked in Batman Returns, Hellboy, Adaptation, and Pan’s Labyrinth to just name a few. For someone who played such a horrifying and evil character in Hush, it impressed me that he might very well have been the most friendly of all celebrities I’ve ever met.
His enthusiasm in greeting the fans with gales of laughter, giant bear hugs, and free photo ops was unbounded. After chatting with him for a bit, I told him that I’d be seeing him a week later – at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago on August 11, 2012. I made sure to stop by and see him, and claim another photo op and of course another giant hug. My friend Dean got both as well – and we didn’t buy a thing.
Sitting next to him at Wizard World was Camden Toy, who played one of the other of the four Gentlemen of Hush. I had brought along the photo from the weekend before so I could get his signature added as well. His resume wasn’t quite as extensive on the whole, but for Buffy fans, it might also be noted that he portrayed the Ubervamp in four episodes of Buffy, a character named Gnarl in another, and the Prince of Lies in an episode of Angel.
Camden wasn’t quite as forthcoming with the hugs, but when I approached him, a female fan was giving him a hug already, so I made sure that I got mine too. Afterall, what’s the point of just being hugged by one of the Gentlemen?
Celebrity encounters from the Summer 2012 Hollywood Show will continue…
Celebrity encounters form the 2012 Chicago Wizard World Comic Con will continue…
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