Feb 28, 200603:51 PMThe Life

Celebrity encounter: Gordon Clapp

Gordon seemed genuinely surprised when I approached him. He was walking back to his golf cart, and didn't hear me: "Mr. Clapp... Mr. Clapp?"

Finally, another member of the fivesome tapped his shoulder and pointed at me.

I quickly blurted, "Do you mind if I take your picture?"

"You want ME?" he said. I nodded, then briefly wondered if perhaps some people mistake this consummate actor for the mousey policeman he portrayed on NYPD Blue: the perpetually-melancholy, often-flummoxed Detective Greg Medavoy. While snapping this photo, I confessed how much I enjoyed the complex character he had created. And he beamed. In fact, we both beamed. It was an excellent moment (click image for full-length photo).

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