kbade

Kent McCord

I met Kent the night of the first day of the festival, Thursday. The vendor room was almost empty because it was about to close but there were still a few people mingling around. We saw that Kent was still at his table and decided to go get his autograph. He and Robert Crawford Jr. were talking when we walked up and there were two people in front of us so we had to wait a few minutes. When it was finally our turn and Kent was signing my photo he noticed my dad’s LSU t-shirt and jokingly asked if he knew his friend coach O(he coached the football team from 2016 to 2021 and got hired back to be the recruiter for the team this year) and they started talking about football. When they finished talking he stood up and we took the picture, and before we left I was able to gather up my courage and tell him I loved him on his episode of Black Sheep Squadron except because I was so nervous I said Baa Baa Black Sheep so he probably didn’t know what I was talking about. He said thanks then we walked out of the room. I was grinning like an idiot 😆

Robert Crawford Jr.

Getting to meet Robert Crawford was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We had been standing in line to meet Robert Fuller for about two hours and right when we were the next group to meet him he left for a thirty minute break. (The thing about Robert Fuller is he’ll take the time to look at and read every single thing you give to him and tell you stories, but the downside is obviously it takes a really long time to meet every fan that way) My mom saw that Robert Crawford only had a few people at his table so she and my dad held my spot and I walked over to meet him. He was blown away by the good quality of the picture I had brought(it’s a screenshot from the episode where Andy was sewing up Jess’s pants while he was still wearing them) and he stared at it for a solid minute trying to figure out what he should write. He ended up putting, ‘Ouch!’ 😆

Robert Fuller

After I left Robert Crawford’s table I got back in line to wait for Robert Fuller to get back from his break. The plan had been for me to get his autograph then while I waited to get his picture (there were about ten chairs set up beside the table that you sit in once you finished meeting him, and then when the last chair was filled you would walk over and sit next to him to get your picture taken) my parents would go to another room where a Q&A with Kent McCord, Gary Clark, and Mike Stoker would be happening later on to get good seats. But we hadn’t planned on Robert taking a thirty minute break. My dad eventually got tired so he went to save us some seats for the Q&A so when Robert eventually got back it was just me and my mom meeting him. It was probably the quickest fan interaction Robert has ever had. This is literally how it went:

*we walk up to his table*

Robert: “Hello cowgirl!”

Me: *giggles nervously and sets down my photos to be autographed*

Robert: *signs my photos* “So where are y’all from?”

Me: “Louisiana.”

Robert: “So y’all had a long drive!”

Me and my mom: *both nod*

Robert: *nods and smiles*

Me and my mom: *nods and smiles*

That was it 😭 then we paid for the autographs and she left to go sit with my dad while I waited for my time to get my picture taken with Robert. By this time the Q&A was close to starting and I figured I was probably going to miss the start. Slowly the chairs beside me started filling up, and then one of the volunteers explained to us how it was going to go: the first person in line (me) would sit down next to Robert and get their picture. The second that person stands up, the next person will run quickly make their way over and sit down next to Robert and get their picture. When I sat down I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands and Robert turned towards me and said, “Give me your hands.” Don’t have to tell me twice 😆 then the picture was taken and I was out of there! I bolted to the Q&A and sat down with my parents with two minutes to spare!

Dennis Holmes

Meeting Dennis was really fun! He was very chatty, and after I got my picture signed and my selfie he invited us to stay and look through a binder he had sitting on his table with lots of behind the scenes pictures from some of the movies he did. Thinking quickly I handed my phone to my mom with the camera app open and on the video screen and whispered to her to record. He told us some great stories about his time working on the movie set for Woman Obsessed and on an episode of Bonanza, and mentioned how his first role was as a baby in the movie Operation Pacific. At the end of the movie his character gets adopted by John Wayne’s character and he joked that he calls Patrick his movie brother. I mentioned that Martin Milner was also in the movie and he apparently never knew that! So that was cool 😆 Anyway, when we left the table so he could sign some other autographs my mom handed me my phone and to my horror, the video wasn’t there! Either I had forgotten to hit record or my mom didn’t realize it wasn’t recording, we still don’t know which it was. I’m still extremely annoyed at that whole situation, but at least I got a picture and an autograph.

Gary Clark

I’ll be honest, I had no idea who Gary Clark was. When it was announced that he was coming to the festival I had to Google him. I never really watched the Virginian so getting his autograph wasn’t that important to me. But that changed after seeing the Q&A with him, Mike, and Kent. That man is FUNNY! He told some great stories about being starstruck over Lee J. Cobb and working on his movie Missile to the Moon. When it was our turn to get his autograph he signed my picture but (like some of the other celebrities) misspelled my name. He looked at the picture, looked up at my name tag, looked back at the picture. Then he leaned over to the volunteer helping him and showed her the picture. “This is supposed to say Kalyn.” Thankfully they had another copy of the picture and he re-signed it, correctly this time. In his(and all the other celebrities) defense, my name doesn’t sound like it’s spelled.

Ruta Lee

Similar to Gary, the only thing I knew about Ruta was that she had been in an episode of Wagon Train with Robert Fuller called The Kate Parker Story. I wasn’t interested in getting her autograph, until seeing her in a Q&A panel with Patrick Wayne and Robert Fuller. If Gary Clark is funny, Ruta Lee is HILARIOUS! She’s got that brutal honesty that all older female celebrities have, and she cusses like a sailor! And every day she wore the most beautiful outfits in very vibrant colors and had a hat to match! I’m planning on buying her book, ‘Consider Your Ass Kissed’ which should tell you all you need to know and on the way home from the festival I made a Ruta Lee playlist on Spotify 😆 Anyway, we went up to her table and I chose a picture to have autographed, and when it was my turn to go up to her the first thing she did was compliment me on my smile. When she was signing my picture she did a double take at my name tag and commented on the unusual spelling. She asked if it was spelled that way on purpose, like for a family member or something, and my mom told her no, that when she and my dad were trying to decide what to name me she was looking through Sports Illustrated and saw a swimsuit model with that name and that was that 😆 When it was time for my picture I sat down next to her and my mom took a few, then Ruta told her to take a couple more! She’s really a fantastic person!

Mike Stoker

We stayed at Mike’s table the longest. My dad is in law enforcement and of course Mike being a firefighter for so long they traded stories for probably five minutes. Mike mentioned the pay firefighters got and how in the beginning some firefighters bragged about going into fires without wearing their masks. My dad asked where he was living now and he said that he and his wife go back and forth between Texas and Montana, he doesn’t do Texas heat or Montana snow 😆 My dad keeps some sheriff’s office challenge coins with him to give to people he admires and when he gave one to Mike he took the time to read and look over every detail on the coin. He thanked my dad for his service and my dad did the same then he signed my picture (of course I had to have him make it out to me and my dad!) and we got our picture, my parents included.

Jennifer Savidge

My original plan was to just get autographs from Kent McCord, Robert Fuller, Robert Crawford Jr., Dennis Holmes, and Mike Stoker. After getting Gary Clark and Ruta Lee’s autographs though, I realized that I had gotten everyone except Jennifer and Patrick Wayne so I figured why not. We went up to her table and picked out a picture, I chose one from an episode of J.A.G. she did, and then when it was our turn she signed it misspelling it but managing to salvage it and I got my picture. It was pretty quick, quicker than all the other interactions. But she was very nice! She and Ruta have similar senses of humor.

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Yes it’s barley a second long but I don’t care-

KENT MCCORD SPOKE TO ME!!!!!