It seems that my quest to get my American Graffiti 8×10 movie poster reproduction signed by members of the cast has become almost as iconic – at least in my life – as the movie itself. I consider the film to be one of the all-time classics and my efforts to get this photo signed have been unlike any other movie. I only wish I could say that I’ve met each person whom I’ve had sign it, but I’m still lacking a few of them. You can see the original posting with links to the other actors here.
Although I’ve now got every one of the living main cast members, it’s still a bit of a work in progress because there are other actors and actresses who had smaller roles, but ones worthy of adding them to the collection. So even though there’s no chance of adding Wolfman Jack, there are still a few others I’d relish seeing.
One of them is an actress whom I had already met, but didn’t know she was in the film and consequently didn’t bring along this photo for her to sign during our first encounter…or our second for that matter. But when I met her again at the Hollywood Show on January 12, 2013, this time I came equipped.
Lynn Stewart was every bit as nice as I remember her from our first encounter, and I must say that she was the deal of the show. She signed my American Graffiti photo and even threw in a photo of her from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, for which she is even more widely recognized as Miss Yvonne, and posed for another photo – all for $20.
Even though Kay Lenz had a nearly microscopic part in American Graffiti as the ill-fated as Jane, I was certainly glad that she had showed up at this mini-reunion. As she recalled to me, she spoke just two words in the film…”Hi Curt”…in a scene implying that she was having an affair with one of her teachers.
Kay Lenz went on to achieve much greater fame for her other work in such films as Breezy and House, and TV shows like Rich Man, Poor Man, Midnight Caller, and an episode of The ABC Afternoon Playbreak, the latter two of which she won an Emmy for.
But quite honestly, I had never seen any of these performances. I was just thrilled to meet another person who was in American Graffiti. She charged $20 to add her signature to the collection and was happy to pose for a free photo. The most interesting thing about our encounter though was that, as we were posing for our photo, the power in the building went off for about ten seconds.
So not only have I met Kay Lenz, I’ve spent some time in the dark with her. Here’s hoping the power stays on when I finally catch up with Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfuss.
Celebrity encounters form the Winter 2013 Hollywood Show will continue…
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