He is wonderful! Met him a convention in my town and was surprised barely anybody there to meet the voice of Mario and toms of other characters.
He signed a poster and signed every character he did while doing their voice for them. It was awesome.
Glad you had the chance to meet him, too!
Mario was named after Mario Arnold Segale. Nintendo rented from his business park in Tukwila, WA and when they were brainstorming a name for their new video game his name came up. Nintendo asked him to come to Japan for a Mario anniversary and he essentially said, "Fuck off."
Yōichi Kotabe designed Mario. He was having lunch at home when a pipe burst unexpectedly. He called the local plumbers and they sent An Italian guy named Mario. Surprisingly, Mario fixed the pipe by going into the pipe and Kotabe was amazed and told Shigeru Miyamoto, and the rest is history.
Yes! Good ol' Charlie! His hair being long like that is making me smile all nostalgic like because it reminds me of our first Mario! You all know the one ;)