Meeting Lee Tergesen: NINE

By Anne (amytych@yahoo.com)

May 31, 2008

I started the evening with dinner at the Marriott Marquis with doctorevel, darthrami and alyt; then we all headed over to the theater to see Lee in "Good Boys and True." We arrived a few minutes too late to see Lee going in, but that’s OK. I was happy to see fanfromfla, cheights, callmerizzo, tesan and Jay again, while getting to meet a whole bunch of Lee fans I hadn’t met before.

We got to our seats in the smallish theater, apparently making up about a fifth of the audience, and waited excitedly. Before long, the play started and Lee made his first appearance fairly early on.

The play, "Good Boys and True," is set at an all-boys school in the Washington, D.C., area. A videotape containing graphic (and not entirely consensual) sex between a boy and a girl was discovered by the coach (Lee’s character), who called the mother of the boy (Brandon) who is allegedly on the tape. Brandon is from a nice, upper-class family and his mother is unwilling to believe it might be him, but the coach seems pretty sure. He tells the mother privately because he is good friends with Brandon's father and wants to help the family avoid a scandal.

As the play goes on, Brandon denies he’s on the tape and soon the tape is leaked all over the school. Coach Shea gets in some trouble for withholding the tape from the headmaster and all the boys on the team get punished until someone comes forward with the truth of who is on the tape. (During the scene where Coach Shea admonishes the boys, his forehead veins make a prominent appearance, which Mav, connoiseur of veiny action, was unfortunately not there to see.) Meanwhile, the girl on the tape is located and it’s revealed that it is indeed Brandon on the tape.

Brandon’s Mom thinks that her son's actions are partially caused by the atmosphere at the school, which has a reputation for sexual exploitation. Coach Shea tells a rather disturbing story about two boys who competed to be captain of the football team, encouraged by the coach at the time. One boy won and to prove he was dominant, he beat up the other boy and raped him. Soon, we realize that Coach Shea is the one who was abused. (Poor Lee. “He’s always the bitch,” callmerizzo said.)

The play was well done and all the actors were great. And it really made you think.

After the play, we went outside to wait for Lee. I was chatting with some of the peeps with my back to the door, but I kept turning to check if Lee was coming out. Then all of a sudden he was there at my shoulder and he surprised me with a smile and a hug. I offered to introduce him to the ladies he hadn't met before, but he said we should wait until we get to the restaurant. He introduced me to a friend he was bringing along, but I have forgotten his name. (You mean there is someone ELSE besides Lee on the whole island of Manhattan?)

As we were standing there chatting, Lee asked, "Did you like the play?" I guess I was so happy to see him again, I forgot to tell him. I said that I did enjoy it. And he teased me, saying that I probably only saying that because he had to ask me. I said, "No, I really liked it. Even better than I expected to."

Soon we were heading to the restaurant - O’Lunney’s (which is where we gathered in 2004, but the restaurant moved down one block, so the layout is different). Lee was making phone calls on the way. I was curious who he was calling, but we found out later.

We arrived at O’Lunney’s and instead of one large table, they had split the party (of 18) between two tables. So a group of the peeps (led by colleendetroit) moved to a bar table that was a bit closer to the main table where Lee sat. We weren’t there but a few minutes when I heard gasps of surprise. When I turned around, I saw Lee hugging Eamonn Walter (Kareem Said on "Oz") and then a dozen cameras were flashing. One of the calls Lee made was to Eamonn, who had just arrived from the UK only the previous day.

Lee introduced Eamonn to us and when he got to me, I shook Eamonn's hand and said, "I love your work on 'Oz' and in 'Othello.' You are a wonderful actor!" Yes, my enthusiasm was spilling over. I was so surprised and delighted to meet him. He sort of leaned toward me in a bow and said thank you. He's so freaking elegant.

A little later, I heard Eamonn say to Lee, “I’m going to kill you on Monday.” I asked, “Lee didn’t warn you?” Eamonn said Lee only said he was going out with some people that he wanted Eamonn to meet. “The next thing I know there are cameras going off,” he said that adorable British accent that he hides so well on Oz. But it didn’t take long for him to get comfortable and start chatting up with a group of the peeps about the play – touching on subjects from class differences to misogyny. The man is highly articulate and has a voice that just melts. *g* He was also very animated as he spoke.

After Lee was out of earshot, Eamonn said, "I love that man." Awww. And then when Lee was back in earshot, he said, "I hate you." *snicker* At one point, after he proclaimed his love for Lee for the second or third time, he said to me, "I'll bet you didn't even know we were friends." I told him that I actually did know as the first time Lee ever e-mailed me was right after he went to the UK to visit Eamonn and Lee mentioned it in his e-mail. Eamonn looked pleased. *G*

Also joining Lee’s entourage was Steven Chester Prince (who co-starred with Lee in "Pineapple" and "Mergers & Acquisitions") and Lee’s S.O. Yuko, who was very sweet and very cool.

At one point, I heard Steven talking with someone about his "Pineapple" performance and he remarked that he had a pretty fine ass for a 45-year-old man. (His ass makes an appearance in the film and he's right. He's in good shape.) Later when I was talking to Lee about "Pineapple," I told Lee that I enjoyed his (Lee's) performance but that I wasn't crazy about the movie. He said, "Come on, Steven did a great job!" And I said that it wasn't so much Steven's performance I had issue with as much as the writing. I told him it sort of dragged on and I ended up fast forwarding through all the scenes except the ones he was in. He smiled at that. Then I told him that I thought "Mergers" was a better movie. He said, "Steve and I were in that together too." Yeah, Lee, I know. I said, "I pretty much have your resume memorized, Lee."

Steven was celebrating his birthday (which officially started at midnight) and he was getting very happily drunk and then he encouraged Lee to show us his “Donald Sutherland impression” from "Animal House." So Lee picks up the T-shirt given to him by colleendetroit and pulls it over his head. It’s long enough to cover down to his thighs. Then he undoes his pants, wiggles them down and raises his arms so that anyone standing nearby got a two-second peek at his adorable ass. Peeps who were close by came flying over with cameras in hand, but the moment went by too fast and no one got a picture. Ah well. It is forever ingrained in my brain. Heh. Eamonn saw all this and said, “You did not just do that.” I said to Lee, “You have no shame.” He agreed, “I have no shame.” (That exchange may have happened after the licking moment, which comes later.)

pride_of_erin, who flew in from the Land Down Under, tried to get Lee to repeat his Donald Sutherland impression so she could get a picture, but Lee said, “You’re too slow.” Then Erin suggested to Eamonn that her night would be complete if he would oblige us with a view of his ass. He said, “My ass is on DVD.” True enough, but then again, so is Lee’s and I was happy to see it live, as well.

I can't remember the sequence, but I was standing near Lee when someone complimented him on his performance. He dramatically pointed out that no one had mentioned it all night. I reminded him that I said I liked it *at* the theater. "Yeah, Anne, but I had to DRAG it out of you," he said, rather dramatically again. He's such an actor.

At some point, colleendetroit brought out her homemade Oz dolls, which Lee hesitantly approached. She gave him the Toby Beecher doll and showed him the swastika on Toby’s ass, which Lee promptly tongued and held the pose while we took pics.

The rest of the night is rather a blur of laughing and watching all the peeps have fun flirting with Lee. The highlight of my night was watching pride_of_erin take a picture of Lee and herself with her camera. (I want to see that picture!) She was positively glowing in his company and I could totally empathize with how she felt in that moment. She was beyond adorable and I knew how much it meant for her to travel so far to see someone who means so much to her. And Lee was good to everyone who attended and that ALWAYS makes me happy. That kind of joy is meant to be shared.

Sometime toward the end of the evening, I was talking with Lee about "Generation Kill" and I asked him if he was doing any narration for it. He looked at me, tilted his head and said, "You always ask me that." Well, not exactly. I have often praised him for his audiobook - "Touching Spirit Bear" - and have suggested he needs to do more. So I said, "You have a great voice and I figured it would be fitting for this." He gave me a sheepish grin. Well, he does have a great voice and I defy anyone to tell me different!

While Lee was saying his good-byes, Diane told Lee that she enjoyed his performance and was sorry she hadn't said so earlier. "Oh sure! Four hours later!" he said, hamming it up.

Diane also asked, "What's next?" Lee said, "Nothing." He said he's taking time off to visit his dad in Connecticut, then go to California to attend his niece's high school graduation, and then he'll return to spend his birthday (July 8) with his dad and take the rest of the summer off, if I recall correctly.

Before Lee left, I got three really nice, long hugs from him. *happy sigh* He’s so damn huggable and he makes me feel so safe. Not to mention the fact that he smells so good. I just wanted to hug him forever. I always do and it’s so damn hard to watch him leave.


~*~*~ 

For more accounts and pictures, see the chart at the LeeLoni LJ.

 

Main Page
Meeting Lee

Meeting One
March 19, 2002

Meeting Two
May 19, 2002

Meeting Three
October 7, 2002

Meeting Four
December 7, 2002

Meeting Five
January 28, 2003

Meeting Six
August 31, 2003

Meeting Seven
November 13, 2004

Meeting Eight
January 7, 2005

Meeting Nine
May 31, 2008

Meeting Ten
May 2, 2010

Meeting 11
Dec. 4, 2010

Meeting 12
Nov. 23, 2011

Meeting 13
June 9, 2012

Meeting 14
Aug. 17, 2013

Meeting 15
June 14, 2015

Meeting 16
October 15, 2017

Meeting 17
June 8, 2019