PHOTO ALBUM FULL OF EVENTS HE WASN'T TECHNICALLY INVITED TO

Archivists working through the Imaginarium's Reality gallery, a collection of real photographs from Mr. Samman's life, report a pattern: he is there. In almost every picture, at almost every kind of occasion, he is present.

"Weddings, sets, conventions, dinners, stages," said one archivist. "There he is. Usually smiling. Often holding a plate, a prop or someone else's baby."

Asked whether he was invited to all of them, Mr. Samman said he wasn't sure, but that showing up when it has nothing to do with you "is what loyalty looks like when it's not performing."

The archivists have decided not to look for the invitations. "He came," said one. "That's the photo." Drax, consulted as an expert in standing very still in other people's moments, called him "a natural."