More than 40 years after the 1977 classic Star Wars made an aspiring young actor named Mark Hamill a household name, the Star Wars icon is finally getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Earlier today, Hamill was honored with the 2,630th star, directly in front of the Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre, with special guests such as Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Billie Lourd, Kelly Marie Tran and even R2-D2 stopping by. In case you couldn't make it to Hollywood Boulevard today, we have a full video of the ceremony below, along with another humorous video from Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Last night, just hours before his Walk of Fame star ceremony, Mark Hamill appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, in a segment where the actor was just outside of Kimmel's studio on Hollywood Boulevard, just a few blocks from where his actual star was to be unveiled. Hamill was seen with a jackhammer, tearing up Jimmy Kimmel's own star on the Walk of Fame, stating he was picking out his perfect spot for his star, suggesting that Kimmel put his star in front of the Hooters on Hollywood Boulevard. The humorous sketch ends when Kimmel tells Hamill that President Donald Trump has his own star on the Walk of Fame just across the street, which causes Hamill to run off camera.
As for the actual star ceremony, the festivities were presided over by Leron Gubler, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who was flanked by two Stormtroopers. Gubler revealed that this was the biggest crowd they have ever had for one of these ceremonies, although with stars like Harrison Ford and George Lucas in tow, that's not too surprising. Star Trek icon William Shtaner was a no show though after delivering Hamill an epic burn on Twitter.
The ceremony opened with Gubler speaking about Hamill's career, his early roles including his theatrical work at Los Angeles City College, along with his TV work before Star Wars, and his voiceover work. The first person to honor Hamill on stage was George Lucas, who had this to say about the iconic actor.
"Mark Hamill is a character that can't be written. He is extremely enthusiastic about everything he does, and that's exactly what I was looking for when I was looking for Luke Skywalker. I was looking for somebody who grew up on a farm, out in the middle of nowhere, that was very naive about what was going on in the world, young, but very enthusiastic. He proved to wear his mettle well. I had gone through a very long process of casting, and it became very clear after a while, during screen tests, that not only was he a good actor, but he was also great with the other actors who were in the finals to be the cast of Star Wars. We always considered it an ensemble piece between the three of them and they really had to get along with each other, or at least have some kind of chemistry. Apart from anything else, they did have chemistry. I'm not sure it was always good, but it was definitely chemistry. A high school chemistry, where someone goes off in the background and tries to hide the flames."
Towards the end of his speech, Lucas mentioned that Hamill was still young enough to do a lot more movies, to which Hamill responded, 'You are too,' although Lucas scoffed at that notion, stating, as he was walking away from the stage, that he isn't in the "game" anymore. Harrison Ford also commented that this crowd, which was so big that they had to close down Hollywood Boulevard, was much bigger than the crowd when he got his star on the Walk of Fame. Harrison Ford also remarked that he was sad the other member of their "trio," the late great Carrie Fisher, wasn't there to celebrate this occasion with them. You can take a look at the entire ceremony below, courtesy of the Variety YouTube channel, and skip ahead to the 15:10 mark for the very start of the festivities.
