Western icons get stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Honorees include George Strait, Keith Urban, Emilio Estevez and Glynn Turman.

We tip our Stetsons and raise our glasses to four C&I reader favorites: George Strait, Keith Urban, Emilio Estevez and Glynn Turman who feature prominently in the list of personalities selected to receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Walk of Fame Selection Committee. These and other honorees were chosen from hundreds of nominations by the committee and were announced last week by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Steven Nissen and three former Walk of Fame inductees: actors Niecy Nash and Joe Mantegna, and music producer Jimmy Jam.

“Each honoree truly embodies the essence of excellence in their respective fields,” said Peter Roth, chair of the Walk of Fame selection committee. “The committee and I look forward to seeing our honorees become part of this world-renowned gateway.”

The dates of the various ceremonies have not yet been announced. The winners have two years to schedule them before their validity expires.

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To quote Hunter Hauks’ 2022 cover profile of the living legend: “The old cliché ‘needs no introduction’ comes to mind when you think of George Strait, the ever-brilliant troubadour who was comfortable at the top of country music for nearly four decades. In fact, Strait actually graced our cover.” five times since the magazine was born over 30 years ago because, really, can we ever get tired of this extraordinary artist?

Like most of his fans, the C&I team feared they would never get another chance to enjoy a live performance from Strait when the superstar announced that his 2013-14 The Cowboy Rides Away tour might mark the end of his road warrior days. But no: Last month, Strait broke the latest in a long line of career records by performing the performance of his life at Texas A&M's Kyle Field in front of 110,905 fans, making it the largest single concert in U.S. history. Retirement? What's that?

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Keith Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand's North Island, and raised in Australia, but he arrived in Nashville as quickly as he could. The multi-Grammy-winning, platinum-selling country singer has been a mainstay on the charts since the release of his self-titled solo album in 1999. Keith Urbanreaching number one with, among other hit singles, But for the Grace of God, Somebody Like You, Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me, Making Days Go By, Tonight I Wanna Cry, Wasted Time and Blue Aint Your Color. His latest album, Highis expected to be released in November.

But wait, there's more. Urban was a judge on the 2012-2014 series American Idolheadlined his 2009 Escape Together Tour with Taylor Swift as an opening act, and was officially inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on April 21, 2012, the same night that his wife, Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman, participated in a panel on the evolution of women behind the camera at the Nashville Film Festival. Unsurprisingly, Kidman politely cut short her role in the discussion to attend what the panel moderator jokingly described as Urbans' canonization. In true country music fashion, she stood by her man.

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Emilio Estevez has long carried on the family tradition started by his highly respected father, C&I Movie Award winner Martin Sheen, beginning with his early days as a mainstay of the Brat Pack (The Breakfast Club, St. Elmos Fire), continuing with leading roles in the 1988 cult film Repo Man and the 1992 sci-fi adventure Free Jack (with, no joke, Mick Jagger as co-star), and currently throughout his career as a writer-director-star of such films as the 1990s Men at work (with his brother Charlie Sheen), 2006s Police officer and the 2010s The path (both with his father). He has appeared in popular franchises such as Monitoring And Mighty Ducks films and continues to direct television series.

But we have to admit: what impressed us most was Estevez's robust performance as a mercurial Billy the Kid in Young guns (1988) and Young Arms II (1990), two revisionist westerns written by John Fusco (Hidalgo, Thunder Heart). The sequel indicated that Billy was not Really killed by his enemy Pat Garrett, but survived to tell many tales. Which is why, even after all these years, some of us are still waiting and, yes, hoping for a Young Arms III.

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Glynn Turman has a remarkably diverse resume, with acting credits ranging from his debut as Sidney Poiters' teenage son in the original 1959 Broadway production A raisin in the sun to a key supporting role in last year's seriocomic western Johnny Black, Outlaw. In the meantime, he's done everything from '70s blaxploitation melodramas (JD's RevengeThomasine) to the large-scale cable series (Processingfor which he received an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series), primetime television series (Peyton Square, A perfect world) to prestigious streaming productions (Ma Rainey's Black Stocking, Patch).

Better yet, he's also proven himself as a cowboy in real life. As we noted when it was announced that he would have a supporting role in Kevin Costner's film HorizonTurman developed a passion for horses at a young age and grew up training them. The New York-born actor spent much of his life as an accomplished horseman, cowboy and team roping champion, and served as Grand Marshal of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo more than 30 times. In November 2011, he was inducted into the Western Heritage Multi-Cultural Museum Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. With his wife Jo-Ann, Turman owns and operates IX Winds Ranch, a 20-acre estate in Lake Hughes, California.

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