British actress Helen Mirren, Javier Bardem and Spain’s 1970s rock icon Janis Joplin are among the celebrities set to get their stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next year, according to organizers.
Chat show host Ellen DeGeneres and actress Jane Lynch are also among the 24 honorees for 2013, while music stars include The Backstreet Boys, Usher and Luther Vandross, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced.
“The Walk of Fame committee is proud to announce next year’s honorees whose additions to the World Famous Hollywood Walk of Fame will bring everlasting Memories of their star power, Talent, and popularity,” it said.
The Chamber of Commerce meets every June to select roughly 20 honorees from the hundreds of nominations. Those picked get the Glory but also have to pay $ 30,000 for the upkeep of the stars, which line Hollywood Boulevard and nearby streets in downtown Tinseltown, drawing millions of tourist every year.
One star whose absence was noted recently was that of the singer Whitney Houston, found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11, Aged 48.
Houston was selected for a star in 1995, but neither she nor her managers organized a star inauguration ceremony within five years, when her enigma Selection expired.
Ana Martinez, spokeswoman for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said Houston’s family had not requested to have her Walk of Fame star nomination revived.
“Her family has not contacted us, there’s nothing we can do,” she told AFP.
But she said: “We would absolutely reinstate her; the committee would just have to take a little quick re-vote.”
The full list of new Nominees for 2013 is:
– Movies: Rick Baker, Javier Bardem, Viola Davis, James Franco, Ron Howard and Helen Mirren.
– Television: Simon Baker, Bryan Cranston, Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Lynch, Matthew Perry and Katey Sagal.
– Music: The Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Hudson, Jane’s Addiction, Janis Joplin (Posthumous), New Kids on the Block, Usher Raymond IV, Thalia and Luther Vandross (Posthumous).
– Live theater: Olympia Dukakis and Penn & Teller.
– Radio: Steve Harvey and “Shot Gun” Tom Kelly.