The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers the Hollywood Walk of Fame, convening a highly secretive and mysterious Walk of Fame committee every year. The organization receives several hundred nominations at the end of May, from which it selects an "undetermined number."
To receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, candidates must meet three criteria:
- Professional achievement
- Longevity of five years in the field of entertainment
- Contributions to the community
Honorees generally receive stars for achievements in one of five categories: motion picture, live theater, radio, television, or music. Only one person has stars in all five categories -- the singing cowboy himself, Gene Autry.
Fame comes with a price, however. In order to receive a star, the celebrity must pay a sponsorship fee of $15,000. Part of this covers security costs. Usually a movie studio picks up the tab as part of a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign for an upcoming film.
The walk is illuminated by well over 2,000 stars, and gets new points of light at the rate of roughly two a month. Pat Sajak has a star. So does Thomas Edison, and Rin Tin Tin. Oh, and of course, David Hasselhoff.
Every June, a five-person committee chaired by Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, meets to consider the approximately 200 applications that roll in annually. The committee selects around 20 honorees from the batch, including one posthumous recipient per year. The applicants' sponsors must then pony up $15,000 each to pay for the unveiling ceremony—no cash, no star, regardless of the person's artistic achievements. The fee is usually picked up by the celebrity's studio or record label, though fan clubs sometimes pass the hat to raise enough money. Aficionados of 1980s rocker Rick Springfield, for example, have collected $19,607.56 to pay for their hero's enshrinement on the walk. (The committee, alas, has yet to grant the "Jessie's Girl" singer a star.)
