The wackiest stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Across its six-decade existence, the Hollywood Walk of Fame has enshrined nearly 3,000 different artists along the streets of Los Angeles. More than half of the current stars were selected during the first two years of the nomination process back in 1958 and 1959. Of those nearly 1,600 names, eight were chosen at random to represent the inaugural class: Joanne Woodward, Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, and Ernest Torrence.
Eight prototype stars were constructed, but director Stanley Kramer was the recipient of the first permanent star on the walk. Since then, actors, singers, radio hosts, and other performers have found their way onto one of Hollywood’s biggest tourist attractions.
If you find your way to all of the stars on the Walk of Fame (which is a monumental task), you’ll notice some interesting oddities along the way. Some stars are enshrined multiple times, some have their names misspelt (like film pioneer Auguste Lumière, whose first name is mistakenly printed as “August”), and some have special logos, like the company logos that represent Victoria’s Secret and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
If you’re looking for some of the more unique stars that fill out the Walk of Fame, check out the six stars and their wacky monuments down below.
The wackiest stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
Gene Autry
The Walk of Fame has five traditional categories in which artists can be enshrined: film, television, music, radio, and theatre/live performance. A notable handful of artists have been honoured with multiple stars in different categories, but only one figure from the entertainment industry has managed to be honoured in all five categories.
That would be Gene Autry, the singing cowboy whose career extended to everywhere from rodeo performances to major league baseball. Due to his extensive impact on music, radio, television, film, and live performance, Autry was the first (and so far only) artist to earn a star in all five categories.
Muhammad Ali
It took a bit of finagling to get Muhammad Ali his star on the Walk of Fame. Even though he was a sporting icon, the nominating committee decided to enshrine Ali under the “theatre/live performance” category after boxing was deemed adequate “live performance”. If anybody turned the sport into entertainment, it was certainly Ali.
But there was a practical problem regarding Ali’s star: the boxer’s first name is the same as the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Since Islamic tradition states that Muhammad can’t be defaced (or even depicted in most cases), Ali requested that his star be mounted on a verticle surface to avoid being stepped on. Ali’s star is on the side of the Dolby Theatre as the only verticle-mounted star on the Walk of Fame.
The crew of Apollo 11
When Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins became the first three humans to travel to the moon, footage from the landing became one of the biggest television events of all time. That more than qualified the trio for some stars of their own, even if they weren’t actors or radio personalities.
In order to celebrate their distinctive contribution to the world of entertainment, the Apollo 11 crew got their own unique emblems bearing a moon. The landing date also got its own star, forever preserving the achievement as an essential part of world history and television lore.
The Munchkins
Honouring multiple figures with stars isn’t all that uncommon. The Muppets all have a collective star, even though Kermit the Frog and Big Bird each have their own. The Supremes have a star, and so does lead singer Diana Ross. All of the Beatles have individual stars, but the band themselves have one as well.
But what if I told you that 134 individuals are all honoured with a single star? That belongs to The Munchkins, the group of actors who starred in the film version of The Wizard of Oz. With 122 adults and 12 children playing the group of diminutive Oz residents, The Munchkins hold the record for most individuals honoured with a single star.
Harrison Ford
People who have walked the entirety of the Hollywood Walk of Fame might feel like they’re seeing double. If you start your walk at the Dolby Theatre, you’ll be able to see the star of Han Solo himself, Harrison Ford. But by the time you follow Hollywood Boulevard a little further, you’ll be able to see a second, completely identical star awarded to Harrison Ford. What gives?
As it turns out, there are two Harrison Fords in the history of film that were deemed worthy of enshrinement. The first was a staple of the silent film era who died when the more well-known Harrison Ford was just 15. The same case of duplicate names applies to Michael Jackson: the singer and the British-American radio talk show host.
Larry King
Cases of mistaken identity aren’t just restricted to the names of famous entertainers. Even though the honouring committee enshrines their stars in specific categories, there have been a few times when artists have been honoured in one category, but their stars read something else.
Classic Hollywood bombshell Carmen Miranda made her name in film, and even though she was honoured in that category, her star bears the TV emblem. The same thing happened to 1940s actor Monty Wolley. The funniest might be radio and television host Larry King, who bears a film emblem on his star. Perhaps his cameo in Ghostbusters was enough to get him a film star.
