For such a sweet and beautiful girl, I always thought that ‘Fred Burkle’ was such an ugly name. But after a while it didn’t seem to matter as she progressed through the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff series Angel. My crush was pretty well solidified even when her body becomes inhabited by the evil demon Illyria. Fred, by the way, was short for Winifred and it didn’t diminish her charming and sweet nature one iota. The question remained however as to whether Amy Acker, the actress who portrayed her, would be just as sweet and charming.
The answer came on August 11, 2012, when she was appearing at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago. At first, I must say, I certainly had my reservations. Autographs of Amy Acker were running $35 a pop, and if she was anything like her Buffyverse co-horts, the only way to get a picture with her was to purchase a photo-op, which was running $40. I needed a photo with her, so that’s just what I did.
During the photo op itself, Amy was more than sweet, offering up her infectious smile, and in more cases than not, giving hugs to oddly shaped fans that had lined up in droves to be photographed with her. I guess for $40, one might expect even more than that, but I for one was pretty satisfied with the photo op encounter. And it didn’t end there…
Unlike many of the others (cough – Laura Vandorvoort – hack), Amy wasn’t having any of the rules that she’d been handed about not posing for pictures. When I first got up to her table, there was some reject showering her with praise and regaling her with tales of his lifelong obsession with her. Always the professional, she offered a smile to him as well. She and I exchanged a knowing chuckle over that oddity, and then just for fun, I asked her if she could pose for a photo at the table.
She coyly said something to the effect of “they’re telling me I’m not supposed to, but go ahead and take one,” for which she willingly posed. She did the same thing for my friend Dean. It was refreshing to be treated like we were a pleasure rather than a nuisance, as some of the others at that very convention were doing to fans.
My admiration for Amy Acker was even further solidified when she appeared at a Hollywood Show on April 20, 2013. Her crowds were far less then, but she was just as nice. Although I wasn’t purchasing anything from her, I went to her table during a lull and thanked her for being so nice in Chicago. She held out her hand an held onto it for the duration of our conversation, seeming genuinely flattered and appreciative of my compliments.
So the answer I was looking for was ‘YES’. If it was possible, she might have been even sweeter than Fred. Besides, so far she hasn’t transformed into a demon.
Celebrity encounters of the 2012 Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago will continue…
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