Hollywood Walk of Fame
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The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, California, United States, which is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of celebrities honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for their contributions to the entertainment industry.
The first star, awarded on February 9, 1960, went to Joanne Woodward. As of April 20, 2006, when Vanna White was honored [link], there have been 2,309 stars awarded.
Characteristics
The Walk of Fame runs east to west on Hollywood Boulevard from Gower Street to La Brea Avenue, and north to south on Vine Street between Yucca Street and Sunset Boulevard. Locations of specific stars are permanent, except when occasionally relocated for nearby construction or other reasons.
Each star consists of a terrazzo comprising a pink five-pointed star rimmed with bronze and inlaid into a charcoal square. Inside the pink star is the name of the honoree engraved in bronze, below which is a round bronze emblem indicating the category for which the honoree received the star. The emblems are:
- motion picture camera for contribution to the film industry;
- television set for contribution to the broadcast television industry;
- phonograph record for contribution to the recording industry;
- radio microphone for contribution to the broadcast radio industry; and,
- twin comedy/tragedy masks for contribution to live theater.
History
The Walk of Fame was created in 1958 by southern Californian artist Oliver Weismuller, who was hired by the city to give Hollywood a "face lift". Many honorees received multiple stars during the initial phase of installation for contributions to separate categories; however, the practice in recent decades has been to honor individuals not yet represented, with only a handful of previous honorees being awarded additional stars. In 1978, the City of Los Angeles designated the Walk of Fame as a Cultural/Historic Landmark.
The Walk of Fame began with 2,500 blank stars. A total of 1,558 stars were awarded during its first sixteen months. Since then, about two stars have been added per month. By 1994, more than 2,000 of the original stars were filled, and additional stars extended the Walk west past Sycamore to La Brea Avenue, where it now ends at the Silver Four Ladies of Hollywood Gazebo, (with stars honoring The Beatles and Elvis Presley).
Maintenance
The Walk of Fame is maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. In order for a person to get a star on the Walk of Fame, he or she must agree to attend a presentation ceremony within five years of selection, and a $15,000 fee must be paid to the Trust for costs such as security at the star ceremony; a 2003 FOX News story noted that the fee is typically paid by sponsors such as movie studios and record companies, as part of the publicity for a release with which the honoree is involved. On other occasions, the fee is paid by a fan club or the nominating person or organization.
However, controversy and mystery surrounds the way the "Stars" are nominated and approved, as discussed in a 2001 ABC News story that interviewed honorary Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant.
Stolen stars
There have been four stars stolen from the Walk of Fame. The stars of Jimmy Stewart and Kirk Douglas, which had been removed during a construction project, were stolen from the site on Vine Street. The culprit was a contractor who was later caught with the two damaged and unusable stars, but not until after they had been replaced. One of Gene Autry's stars was also taken from another construction project. That star was found in Iowa. On November 27, 2005, thieves sawed Gregory Peck's star out of the sidewalk near Gower.Cameras are being placed in the walk district to catch thieves.
Trivia
- Gene Autry is the only person to have been honored with all five stars.
- At Hollywood and Vine, a special "round star" on each of the four corners commemorates the Apollo 11 astronauts. Each astronaut (Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Aldrin) has a star and there's a joint star for NASA's entire Apollo 11 mission team.
- In 2005, companies became eligible for Walk-of-Fame-type stars; the first recipient was Disneyland, in honor of its 50th anniversary. Company awards are on private property near the Walk, and not part of the Walk itself. Companies must have a strong Hollywood presence and be at least fifty years old to qualify for this award. Entertainment industry publications Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are among the planned recipients.
- The Walk of Fame appears very briefly in the 2003 remake of The Italian Job as well as in the films Stuart Saves His Family, My Girl and Pretty Woman.
- There are two film actors named Harrison Ford with stars. The first was Harrison Ford ( a silent film actor in the 1910s & 20s) whose star is in front of the Musso & Frank restaurant at 6665 Hollywood Blvd. The second is the present-day Harrison Ford, whose star can be found in front of the Kodak Theater at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.
- Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who were seventeen at the time they were awarded their star, are the youngest celebrities and the only twins to receive a star. They were honored for their contributions to television.
- Run DMC is the first hip-hop group to have a star.
- Queen Latifah is the first female hip-hop artist to have a star.
- Fictional characters that have stars include Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse,Woody Woodpecker, Winnie the Pooh, Donald Duck, Godzilla, Pee-wee Herman, Kermit the Frog, C-3PO, Lassie, The Rugrats, The Simpsons and Snow White.
- Tommy Bond, whose career spanned 65 years and 72 movies; who portrayed "Butch" in the Little Rascals; and cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in the original "Superman" movies in the 1940s, was denied a "Star" in 1998, but that same year three local disc jockeys received their "Stars". Mr. Bond died September 24, 2005, still without a star. On the same note, neither Academy Award winner Tim Robbins, nor Oscar winner Ruth Gordon (who was in films for over 4 decades) have received "Stars"; yet newcomers such as Ryan Seacrest have received stars.
- Of the entire cast of the original Star Trek TV series, only Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) does not have a "Star" along the Walk of Fame.
- Pat Sajak commented on Wheel of Fortune that his star has the wrong emblem. His emblem is the movie camera when it should be the TV set. He quips on the show that "someone should pry it off and sell it on eBay, it's a collectable!"
List of stars
See also
- Hollywood and Vine
- Grauman's Chinese Theater
- Canada's Walk of Fame
- St. Louis Walk of Fame
- Avenue of Stars, London
- Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong
- Hollywood's Rockwalk
- Michigan Walk of Fame
- Walk of Game
External links
- [Official website]
- [Hollywood Walk of Fame] at Seeing-Stars.com
- [Hollywood Boulevard's Price of Fame], a December 2003 article from the FOX News website
- [Scientists' Walk of Fame] - a prank by Caltech students on May 4, 2005
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