ALBANY — When Chelsea Blackwell lost her dog of 15 years Monday, she was devastated. She wasn’t sure she’d find him again — and she certainly didn’t think the person who would find her pet would be famous actress Hilary Swank, who is in Albany shooting a movie.
Blackwell started driving around in a panic, asking people if they had seen Blue, a small dachshund.
“I noticed there were like eight police cars and people with cameras — I thought maybe somebody got shot,” Blackwell said of the scene as she pulled up near the Greyhound bus station off Broadway downtown. “I asked them if anyone saw a little brown dog, and they said, ‘Yes, we’ll call her.'”
The camera crew told Blackwell a celebrity had found her dog, but she was doubtful … until about an hour later when a gray car pulled up, and she saw Blue sitting in Swank’s lap.
“I was like, ‘No way,'” Blackwell said. “As soon as she got out of the car, I kissed Blue and said, ‘Thank you so much.’ “
When Blackwell asked Swank for her autograph, Swank suggested they take a picture together instead. Blackwell wanted to make sure Swank’s actions wouldn’t go unnoticed.
“She’s not the type of person who’s going to blow the horn telling people what she did,” Blackwell said.
Blackwell posted the photo on her Facebook page Monday after meeting Swank, which has garnered nearly 200 likes and has been shared over 100 times.
“Id stopped and asked if someone seen a little brown dog? A man walked over to my car and said, yes, this woman picked him up. I said who? He replied, a celebrity,” Blackwell wrote in the post. “He called the person who had him. And they said she’s on her way back.. You’ll never guess who had him?? Hillary (sic) Swank.”
The Albany Film Commission isn’t sharing any details about the movie Swank is shooting in Albany, per the production’s request.
