Playwright August Wilson to get Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Free Press wire reports | 6/25/2020, 6 p.m.
PITTSBURGH- August Wilson is going Hollywood.
The famed late playwright from Pittsburgh will be honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.
Mr. Wilson was among the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2021 honorees announced last week. Also announced as honorees in the Live Theatre/Live Performance category were English classical crossover singer Sarah Brightman and the late noted opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
Also getting stars will be performers including Portsmouth native Missy Elliott, Salt-N-Pepa, Kelly Clarkson and Jefferson Airplane and actors including Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jimmy Smits “and a double star for Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal.”
With ceremonies on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, however, even some 2020 honorees are still awaiting their Hollywood moment.
Mr. Wilson wrote mostly about the 20th century African-American experience from growing up in Pittsburgh’s historically African-American Hill District.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “Fences” in 1987 and “The Piano Lesson” in 1990. The film version of “Fences” gained Oscar nominations for Mr. Wilson for adapted screenplay and for star Denzel Washington and a best supporting actress Oscar win for Viola Davis.
