We all loved Ham Tyler on V so when it was announced that Michael Ironside would be at Monster Mania 57 in Oaks PA, we immediately started making plans to be there as his convention appearances are rare. We wondered if he would be as intimidating in person as the characters he’s played. A few friends of ours had met him before and said he was really personable, so that allayed our fears a bit!
While our group waited in line, Michael spotted us and seemed to smile, so we were hoping that was a good sign! He was surprised to find out that we had a gift for him – our usual CT-V mug – and he teased us about where he might use it, saying, as he grinned, “maybe it’ll go in the bathroom”. Adina laughed and said, “you can do whatever you want with it” and he said, “Eh, I’m just kidding! Thank you, guys.”
When he saw how many autographs we were having him sign, he looked back at the line behind us and quipped, “They’re all gonna hate ya…” and we all laughed. As he signed, he wanted to know which people were there so he could personalize each autograph and had fun with each one of us along the way. After signing 20+ autographs, he brought us all together to take several group pictures.
Quick back story: Hollywood stuntman Leon Delaney, who passed away earlier this year, worked with Michael several times. Charles and Adina became personal friends with Leon after meeting him at Chiller many years ago. He always spoke highly of Michael, telling us “when you finally meet him, you’re gonna love him!” When we mentioned our friendship with Leon to Michael he said Leon was his best buddy, what a great guy he was, and that they worked on three films together, including Starship Troopers and Total Recall – a movie which Leon loved talking about.
As with all of the V actors we have met, Michael was wonderful, full of humor, wit, and warmth. He seemed to truly appreciate us showing up in costume celebrating his work on V. And we’ll never forget how he gave each one of us a huge bear hug before we left. Thank you, Michael!
