Robert Redford, You're Not So Big!

It's June 27, 1975.  I had just flown from Buenos Aires, Argentina and had landed at Los Angeles.  Just turned 21, I had spent the past 22 months in Argentina serving a mission for the LDS Church and was anxious to return to family and friends in Salt Lake City.

I was all alone for the first time in two years.  There was layover at LAX and I had found my way to the gate.  These were the days before all gates at LAX had jetways, those tunnels that now connect the terminals with the planes.   My gate did not have a jetway.  They weren't even at SaltLake City's airport.  

I sat down in one of the chairs not far from the gate's sliding door. Across from me some 7-8 feet were a bank of chairs.  If I remember correctly, I was there for some time alone.  I remember how strange it felt not have a companion near me, knowing that I had always had someone close to me every hour of every day for the past two years and three days.  As a missionary, the only time that I could be alone was when I took a shower or used the restroom.

As I waited for time to pass, I noticed a man with a briefcase coming toward the gate and he sat down on the chairs facing me.  As I looked at him straight ahead, I realized that it was the movie star, Robert Redford! Much too shy to say anything (what do you say to a movie star anyway?), I just sat there and watched him, trying not to be obvious.  I remembered that he lived in Utah in the mountains near BYU and figured he had been in LA doing what movie stars do and was returning home.

More people finally started arriving as the departure time got closer, but he had buried/hidden his face in what was likely some important document like a script.  Nobody but me knew he was there.  I realized that I knew something that nobody else knew and determined at some point to tell others that he was on the flight.

At last, it was time to board, and if I remember correctly, I would be in the fifth row, right side facing the cockpit.  When the announcement was made, he quickly jumped up, and took his place at the front of the boarding line in the terminal.   There were a few people in front of me. The sliding doors opened and we walked along the ground to the stairs that led to the front of the plane, which I believe was a Boeing 737 with no first class seats.

As he kind of hurried on ahead I walked a little slowly, informing some of the people I was my fellow travelers that Robert Redford was on this flight and was walking ahead of us.  The news somehow spread backwards in the boarding line.

I entered and stood at my fifth row seat, motioning to some of the people where he was sitting, which was on my right side but in the very first row and at the window. I remember some of the people looking over his direction and smiling with delight.  

More memorable was when a group of teenage girls entered into the plane. They obviously had heard my gossip that Robert Redford was on the flight.  As I pointed, they would look over his direction and start giggling.  I remember feeling kind of uniquely important that I had let out a big secret that only I had known.  As I relate my actions here, I feel kind of dumb, but then, I was only 21, right?

If I recall, the flight itself was uneventful, except that I remember how great it was to see the towering mountains of the Salt Lake Valley.  But it was hard not to deny the growing excitement of seeing family and friends that would be waiting at my arrival.  When the plane touched down I could hardly contain myself.

As we taxied and eventually parked at the terminal gate, without a jetway, I popped up and stood.  Looking to the front, Robert Redford had likewise popped up and was awaiting the opening of the door and for the people in front of him to begin the exiting process.  The door opened and I was not too far behind him as we all inched toward the door.

I reached the doorway and heard shouts and voices exclaiming "there's Bob!"  "There he is!" I was focused on the faces in my little entourage, looking to see who had come, and forgetting my famous travel companion.  I didn't learn until later the main reason for bringing up this tale of my return from my missionary endeavors in Argentina. 

 Someone in the group later told me that they had noticed Robert (Bob) Redford descending the stairway from the plane to the gate.  He apparently was approaching the bottom of the stairway when I appeared at the plane door and the shouts began ringing out. "There's Bob!" Supposedly, from his facial expression, "Bob"Redford thought that the voices were from fans. But NOBODY paid any attention to him; only the 21 year-old "Bob" with the red hair that had been gone for two years.  Reportedly, according to the group member, he turned around to look up toward the plane and smirked.  On that day, in that moment, I was the star!  I was more popular than Robert Redford!