Friendly Encounters: Chris Sarandon and Gabe Baron

Friendly Encounters is a weekly series featuring friends who have met celebrities.

I first met Gabe Baron at the debut show for Resistance Pro several years back.  From that first day, Gabe made me feel like part of the RPro family and I have enjoyed knowing him, his family and the entire RPro gang.

Gabe is a great friend.  I admire his family dedication and his overall attitude.  If you are lucky enough to be Facebook friend with Gabe, you will see many pictures of his wife and two daughters.  I always get a warm feeling when I see these pictures.  They are so loving.  He represents everything you'd want out of life.

Oh sure, he has a quick and often offbeat wit, but that just adds to the experience of knowing him.  He also has an affinity for sitcoms from the 1970's, but that's right up my alley, too.  It would be a blast to watch a '70's sitcom marathon with him.

Gabe and his brother Jacques have been to many Days of the Dead events in Schaumburg, IL.  At the 2014 DotD, he met Chris Sarandon, the voice of Jack Skellington among other acting roles.

I know Gabe loves meeting his favorites at these events.  I have had the pleasure of facilitating a few photo opportunities for Gabe and I couldn't have been happier to do it for him.

I truly like and respect Gabe and I am proud to call him a friend.  I'm loking forward to seeing him (and some celebs) at the next convention.

Gabe Baron and Chris Sarandon in Schaumburg, IL-November 2014.

Chris Sarandon At Days of the Dead 2012

Days of the Dead Week continues with Chris Sarandon.  This one might get me killed by Liza Nolan.

Among his other work, Sarandon provided the voice for Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas, one of her favorte movies.  My defense is that I met him long before I knew her.  Knowing her though, even that might not be enough to avoid a throat-punch.

I met and interviewed Sarandon a couple times.  That first interview can be found at On the Beat with Chris Sarandon.  Sarandon was very cool then and every time I saw him after that.

I also learned after our first meeting that he is a cousin to Lynn, my Guidance Counselor at DePaul.  Lynne singlehandedly kept me at DePaul because of her help and friendship.  I owe her immensely for that.  Anyway, she saw my first post about Sarandon and contacted me.  This lead to some extra chatter with Sarandon the next time I saw him.

I really hope Sarandon makes another appearance at Days.  That might smooth over the situation with Liza if I bring her to meet him.  Then again, it might not.

Check out DaysoftheDead.net for all of the relevant info on future events.  O course, I'll also keep all posted right here!

Chris Sarandon and me in Schaumburg, IL-November 2012.

On the Beat with Chris Sarandon at Days of the Dead 2013

Today's featured guest and interview actually had its' origin back in 1984 at DePaul University.  I was a struggling first year student at DePaul.  My grades were below average, I had no direction and the guidance counselors were of no help.  Somehow, I landed in the office of Assistant Dean Lynne Chappel.
It was at this point that things changed dramatically.  Lynne became a friend and mentor throughout the rest of my time at DePaul.  It is no stretch to say that I would not have stayed at DePaul if it wasn't for Lynne.  Actually, I don't know what would have happened to my college career in general, if it wasn't for Lynne.
I saw Lynne help many others, too.  I can easily say that Lynne was by far the most important person in my college career.
Fast forward to last year.  I interviewed actor Chris Sarandon at Days of the Dead in Chicago.  It was a brief intterview, because Sarandon had a long line of fans and the interview was not previously scheduled.  I very much appreciated him giving us any time at all, actually!
A couple weeks later, I received an email from Lynne.  We have stayed in contact over the years.  Lynn was surprised to see me interview Sarandon...her cousin!
When I saw Sarandon would be appearing at Days in Indianapolis, I contacted Lynne and asked her if I could drop her name to Sarandon.  She responded quickly and positively.
At the convention, I approached Sarandon while he was setting up his table.  I mentioned Lynne and he immediately lit up.  (Lynne has that effect on people.)  We talked a bit about how they were related and about how I knew her.  We agreed that Lynne is a real sweetie!  Then he gave us the update interview below.
Sarandon is incredibly nice and has had an amazing career.  Early on, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Dog Day Afternoon.  His many other films include Fright Night, Child's Play (a personal favorite), The Princess Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  He is currently working on a very interesting and important project, but I will let him tell you about that in the clip below.
I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for Sarandon's project called Not Someone Like Me.  Obviously Sarandon is very serious about the subject matter and the project.  I am sure it is something very special.  I promise to keep everyone updated whenever I hear anything about Not Someone Like Me.
I really want to thank Sarandon for his time and for years of great entertainment.  I also want to thank Lynne for her assistance in this interview and for saving me so long ago.

On the Beat with Chris Sarandon at Days of the Dead 2012

When I saw that Chris Sarandon was added to the Days of the Dead celebrity guest list, I immediately tried to contact him.  As you will learn in the interview video, he has no Facebook or twitter or website.  That pretty much ended my chances of contacting him about an interview.
I had to go with Plan B, which is to approach him at the convention and ask for an interview there.  This is always a long shot, because the celebrity has no chance to check out my website to make sure it is legit and clean.
Matt and I went to his table before the convention officially started and took our shot.  Despite being busy trying to get things set up, Sarandon gave us a couple minutes of his time for the interview.
I asked him about doing conventions and his favorite role.  He was pretty diplomatic about singling out one role (although a lot of actors are).  I did not cover any ground-breaking news in the interview, but I got to talk to an Academy Award nominee (for Dog Day Afternoon).
I really appreciate Sarandon's time and willingness to talk.  Like he says in the interview, if you want to learn more about him, you'll have to check out imdb.com.