Michael Clarke Duncan at the Warner Brothers Lot in Burbank, California. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have run into very few celebrities in my life despite the fact that I used to work in entertainment. I’ve actually spoken to still fewer and I can actually think of only a handful that I’ve actually exchanged multiple sentences with. One of these was Michael Clarke Duncan, the actor best known for The Green Mile, who passed away today at 54. It seemed like now was as good a time as any to share this little story.

As I’ve probably mentioned, in between CBS  News and Sesame Workshop, I worked very briefly for BET’s 106 and Park. Usually we were so busy we never saw anything of the show but Mariah Carey was the musical guest that night and she arrived VERY late for the taping so we were all just kind of hanging around, waiting for the show to finish so we could go home. One of the other guests that night was Michael Clarke Duncan but his interview had been much earlier in the show so I personally assumed he’d gone home.

Since nothing was going on but we couldn’t leave until the show was out, I snuck into the back of the studio to watch Mariah. Is she a total diva who made us all wait around for her and pay the crew mad overtime? Yes. But, damn, she can sing. I’d never heard her live before and I was blown away.

So there I stood, rather entranced by her performance, and was only dimly aware that someone else was standing next to me as it was very dark in the back of the studio since most of the lights were centered on her. She finished, the lights went up and the crowd clapped and the person next to me leaned over and said softly, “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”

I turned to agree and was quite shocked to discover that the speaker Mr. Duncan. At first, I didn’t recognize him and my shock was mostly at how HUGE he was. (I’m not that short for a woman, but he made me feel like a child. Big, tall guy.) Then, when I realized who he was, it was even stranger because HE was starting a conversation with ME when you’d think it would be the other way around. He was asking me if I’d ever seen her live before and I said no and he hadn’t either so we just made some small talk about how different it is to hear someone sing in person, concerts we’ve been to etc. Nothing earth shattering but I think he started randomly chatting with me out of all the people milling about because I think he saw that I, like him, was really moved by Mariah’s performance instead of just standing around like “Ugh, lady, finish up so we can go home” like everyone else was. We kind of shared a moment.

Then his people showed up a few minutes later and were very, “THERE you are!” like he’d given them the slip (which was hilarious, as he was a hard man to miss) and he politely said goodbye and wished me a good night and I was left thinking, “What a lovely man.”

Anyway, I obviously don’t know the man at all, we just exchanged a few words several years ago. But I understand that he was having a some heart trouble so I am very sorry to hear of his passing, especially so young. He was certainly one of the nicest celebrities I’ve ever met.