My Encounter with Jeanne Cooper of The Young and the Restless

It was a sunny day when I met Mrs. Chancellor. Jeanne Cooper plays Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless. Sunshine and celebrities are things you can count on in Los Angeles. As a Maryland native, it is uncommon to run into a celebrity. When I moved to LA, all that changed. Soon, I became a regular for lunch at Pick Up Sticks, just off Ventura Boulevard.

One day eating lunch, I noticed a beautiful, older woman with big black sunglasses, walk in Pick Up Sticks, and place an order, as I sit at the table with my friend. Those sunglasses looked like they cost my entire lifetime savings. She has to be a celebrity, I thought.

My friend says, "That is Mrs. Chancellor from the Young and the Restless." I thought it was funny that my friend knows this celebrity as Mrs. Chancellor, rather than Jeanne Cooper. I sat in shock and awe, since I was relatively new to the area, and did not expect to meet one of my favorite characters from a Soap that I watched for years.

She was hungry. She stood at the counter watching them patiently prepare her meal, but yet eager to leave and eat it. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to say hi, but I am sure that being a celebrity gets old after a while, having fans ask for autographs, and people wanting photos. I didn't want to bother her, but at the same time, she was waiting for her food, so I thought that I would introduce myself as one of her favorite fans.

I somehow got the courage to say hi, but did it from my table, where she was standing a foot away. "Hello Mrs. Chancellor, "I said, timid and afraid of rejection.

She turned around and said to me, "Well hello, what is your name?" She looked as if she is paying attention, and interest in talking with me.

"My name is Cheryl, I am so happy to see you at my favorite restaurant." I said to break the ice, and offer a comfortable situation other than holding out a pen.

"Oh, I know, I just love their food...," she says as a cook calls her to get her food.

Mrs. Chancellor ran to the counter, almost purring with the thought of her food finished, but it was as if she were a hungry wolf deep down inside. As she gathers her take-out order, she says to the cook, "Can you give me some of those little crunchy things?"

I wanted to laugh because it was cute. As she pitter-patters to the door, she says, "Bye Cheryl."

I had to tell my grandmother this, because we both loved the daily soap she stars in, but Jeanne Cooper has something special about her. She had magnetic charm, and I wish my grandmother could have met her.

I was awed with her cute personality. I felt as if Mrs. Chancellor really cared about her fans, and appreciated a subtle approach to introducing myself. When I talked to her, I could see Jeanne Cooper for who she was outside of the role she played as Mrs. Chancellor.

I had forgotten the incident after some time, but almost a year later, in the same intersection of Pickup Up Sticks, I am walking home with the same friend. A car is holding up traffic, with a woman trying to get my attention, calling out and waving her hand out the window. My friend says, "Someone is calling for you."

I turned around, and saw that it was Mrs. Chancellor! "Hi Cheryl," she says, waving like I was a long lost friend, and she was happy to see me.

I could not believe that a celebrity remembered my name, meeting only once, and stopping traffic in order to say hi.

Jeanne Cooper, the real Katherine Chancellor, is a real gem.