The Walk of Fame Goes Virtual

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored Emmy nominated actor and new Walk of Famer Actor Anthony Anderson with the first virtual Walk of Fame star ceremony in the history of the prestigious boulevard. The decision to resume the Walk of Fame ceremonies was not made lightly and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce followed strict filming guidelines set forth by the County of Los Angeles. The county of Los Angeles adopted a staged approach, supported by science and public health expertise, to allow Music, Television and Film production to resume as of June 12, 2020. Safety guidelines included: COVID-19 testing for each participant, sanitizing the production area, maintaining social distancing, wearing proper personal protective equipment and closing the ceremony to the public. In-person participants were limited and the ceremony is available to the public on the Walk of Fame website.

Anthony was inducted into the Walk of Fame Class in 2018, but he elected to hold off on his ceremony so he could celebrate alongside another great milestone, his 50th birthday which falls on August 15, 2020. As a native Angeleno, Anthony attended Hollywood High School’s Performing Arts classes and has played an active part in the Hollywood community, as an advocate and philanthropist, for more than 35 years. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Anthony decided to move forward with his ceremony as previously scheduled by partnering with Hollywood UNITES to help support the vulnerable members within the Hollywood community.

*Hollywood UNITES, an initiative from the Hollywood Chamber Community Foundation, provides meals and vital resources to those in need to help alleviate the detrimental impact on our community through these uncertain times. Anthony’s donation to Hollywood UNITES will expand the Foundation’s reach and provide more resources to the Hollywood community.

Six-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe nominated actor, Anthony Anderson is the star and executive producer of ABC’s multi-award nominated sitcom “black-ish.” The show will begin its seventh season this fall. Anderson also hosts the ABC game show “To Tell the Truth,” now in its fifth season. He produces “grown-ish” for Freeform and “mixed-ish” for ABC, both “Blackish” spin offs. He is also executive producing “Road Trippin” with Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion which just began airing on SnapChat. Last year, Anthony appeared in the Emmy award winning ABC live television special, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience” as Henry Jefferson in the All in the Family” portion.

Following the success of Anthony Anderson's ceremony, the Walk of Fame geared itself for its very first virtual double -star ceremony in history. Love Story stars Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw revieved their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in honor of the movie's 50th anniversary.

ABOVE IMAGE: Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal are honored with star via teleconferencing

for their starring roles in the timeless, unmatched tale from the heart, LOVE STORY. Based on Erich Segal’s best-selling novel, LOVE STORY was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, and became a cultural phenomenon, earning over $100 million at the domestic box office. The film spent 15 weeks at #1 in the U.S., continuing to expand to more theaters because of its popularity and ultimately becoming the top-grossing movie of the year. In 2002, the AFI named it as #9 on its list of the 100 greatest love stories of all time.

A timeless classic about the highs and lows of young love, the film remains as impactful as ever, 50 years after its original release.

Not long after history making costume designer Ruth E. Carter was honored with her star on the Walk of Fame. Carter is the second costume designer to be honored with a star on the Walk of Fame following Edith Head who was honored when the Walk of Fame was created in 1960.

Ruth E. Carter began her career working as an intern in her hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts and at the Santa Fe Opera. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986. While working at the Los Angeles Theater Center, Carter met director Spike Lee, who hired her for his second film, ‘SCHOOL DAZE”, and with whom she worked on a number of films thereafter, including “DO THE RIGHT THING,” “MO’ BETTER BLUES,” “JUNGLE FEVER” and “MALCOLM X”. Carter has continued to work on films for Spike Lee, including “OLDBOY,” “ DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS.” Carter has worked with legendary directors such as Steven Spielberg and John Singleton, and has dressed actors from Denzel Washington to Josh Brolin, and actresses from Angela Bassett to Oprah.

ABOVE IMAGE: Costume designer Ruth E. Carter with her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame