Canada's Walk of Fame
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canada's Walk of Fame acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians. It consists of a series of stars in 13 designated blocks worth of sidewalks in front of Roy Thomson Hall, The Princess of Wales Theatre, and The Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street and Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. Created in 1998, it includes athletes, coaches and other sports figures; actors, directors, writer and producers of movies, television and stage; singers, songwriters and musicians; playwrights; authors; comedians; even cartoonists and supermodels.
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[edit] History
The first class of inductees was inducted in 1998, but the Walk of Fame was first conceived back in 1996 when founder and current president Peter Soumalias suggested the idea of a Walk of Fame for famous Torontonians to the board of the Toronto Entertainment District Association they rejected it he would leave to establish a Walk of Fame for Canadians on his own.
He would partner with Bill Ballard, Dusty Cohl (co-founder of the Toronto International Film Festival), and Gary Slaight. Despite not having a lot of money, research and no media plan, they managed to pull it off and the Walk of Fame has since become a popular tourist attraction in Toronto and has been named the Number one Canadian recognition event.
The Walk of Fame has since partnered with several different organizations, such as the Mary Pickford Institute to produce a young filmmakers competition. There is also a music competition to be launched in 2007, and a book is planned, which at the moment is titled "108 Great Canadians". There are also plans to manage a festival of Canadian films. [1]
[edit] Comparison between the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame
Although it initially seems much like its closest American counterpart, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada's Walk of Fame differs in many ways.
The Hollywood Walk allows only celebrities of the silver screen, television, radio and singers/musicians, Canada's Walk allows people of more diverse occupations, as listed above. While most celebrities on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are American or have achieved their fame in the USA, Canada's Walk of Fame is exclusive to Canadians. Very few Americans come to Canada and achieve fame, and so an international allowance is redundant. This is not to say immigrants are not allowed, only the celebrity must have held Canadian citizenship or had a primary residence in the country at one point. As Canada's entertainment industry grows, more actors, singers and other creative personalities might start to appear on the Walk.
Both Walks have stars signifying each celebrity's spot, but the American path requires an upkeep fee, unlike the Canadian counterpart which actually is a true hall of fame. Whereas any celebrity that meets criteria can finance their way into the American walk, Canadian are selected via a supervising committee, and thus must earn their honour. Finally, Canadians stars are inducted in an annual group ceremony; Hollywood rarely inducts more than two major stars at a time. As well, celebrities can have more than one star in the Hollywood Walk. The same celebrity can be honoured as many as five times under the various categories. This does not happen in Canada's Walk, although some may have an individual star but also be inducted as part of a larger group, such as John Candy, Martin Short and Eugene Levy who have their own star but also were in Second City Television.
Those that are eligible for Canada's Walk Of Fame must be born in, or have spent much of their early life in Canada, have had national or international impact on Canada's Heritage and must have at least 10 years of experience in their own field of service.
There have really been no true controversies about who has or hasn't been inducted. Some feel that there should be fewer producers and lesser-known artists and writers on the walk of fame, because although they are very successful, they are not as famous as many of those who are not inducted and thus make the Walk of Fame seem more like a "Walk of Success".
[edit] List of Inductees
[edit] 2006 Inductees
The 2006 inductees were announced on March 8, 2006 . It was previously announced that WWE Diva Trish Stratus would host the induction ceremony Toronto's Hummingbird Centre, which took place on June 3, 2006. The 2006 inductees were Pamela Anderson (Playboy Model & Actress), Jann Arden (Singer), Brendan Fraser (Actor), Robert Goulet (Singer), Eugene Levy (Comedian), Paul Shaffer (Musician) and Alex Trebek (Game Show Host). Also inducted is a group of male skiers known as the Crazy Canucks. This group includes: Ken Read, Steve Podborski, Dave Irwin and Dave Murray . They will all be given the same star. There are three who were not born in Canada who are being inducted: Brendan Fraser, Robert Goulet and Ken Read. Last years group was considered weak because of its lack of star power, but this year the entire group is better known.
[edit] Trivia
- There is only one entire family on the Walk of Fame: Donald Sutherland, Shirley Douglas and their son Kiefer Sutherland.
- As of 2006, there are exactly 100 Stars on the Walk of Fame. This does not count the members of the various group inductees (such as bands or comedy troupes).
- Tom Green hosted the induction ceremony in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, WWE wrestler and diva Trish Stratus took over hosting duties.
- Some of the more notable Canadians without stars who have considerable fan support for induction:
- Athletes: Hockey players Guy Lafleur, Phil Esposito, Patrick Roy and Frank Mahovlich; baseball player Larry Walker; basketball player Steve Nash; figure skater Elvis Stojko; Olympic gold medalists Donovan Bailey and Catriona Lemay Doan; race car driver Gilles Villeneuve; and legendary wrestling personality and trainer Stu Hart as well as his sons Bret Hart and Owen Hart.
- Actors/Actresses: Television legend James Doohan; Native Canadian actor Graham Greene; Academy Award winning actress Norma Shearer; and Lorne Greene.
- Musicians: The Band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO), Great Big Sea, Blue Rodeo, Kim Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan and jazz musician Oscar Peterson.
- Miscellaneous: long time ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, naturalist David Suzuki.
