Donald Duck, Scotty Get Starred

Thu., Jun. 17, 2004 5:20 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Donald Duck is getting ready to waddle down the Walk of Fame.

The wacky quacker, who just celebrated his 70th birthday, is just one of the celebs picked to receive a star on the well-traveled Hollywood strip next year--and the only 'toon tapped for the honor.

Other honorees (of the flesh-and-blood variety) include smoldering screen star Antonio Banderas, put-upon Star Trek engineer James "Scotty" Doohan, news guy Tom Brokaw and sultry crooner Al Green.

In all, 32 famous types were selected by the Walk of Fame Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to have their names immortalized in sidewalk stars.

"The ceremonies for these artists will bring a lot of smiles and excitement to the local residents and to our visitors from around the world," said Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood.

Next year's lucky star recipients were culled from hundreds of nominations, according to the Walk of Fame committee. The final selections were announced Wednesday and ratified by the chamber's board of directors.

The Walk of Fame Class of 2005 is fairly evenly divided between television, film and recording stars, with a few theater and radio personalities thrown in for good measure.

Among the small-screen stars soon to be tread upon by the masses are movie critic Roger Ebert, oft-overlooked soapstress Susan Lucci, Frasier alum David Hyde Pierce, sports announcer Al Michaels, M*A*S*H-er Wayne Rogers and pie-tossing comic Soupy Sales.

The movie crew is loaded with actors known for having a high laugh factor, including Ben Stiller, Tim Allen, Dennis Quaid and Kevin Kline. Female picks Patricia Neal and Julianne Moore round out the group.

Piano man Billy Joel, songstress Carly Simon, Bronze Buckaroo Herb Jeffries, blue-eyed soul singers the Righteous Brothers, rocker Rod Stewart and mogul Emilio Estefan were chosen from the musical side of the industry.

Tapped in the live-performance category: Theodore Bikel, Linda Hopkins and Fred Travelena from the theater pool, while radio's righteous dude Jim Ladd and gabber Bob Miller got the nod in their category.

Then there are the star recipients who won't be in attendance at their unveiling ceremonies...because they're dead. Posthumous star props will go to Freddie Prinze, Redd Foxx, Stella Adler and David O. Selznick.

More than 2,200 stars (not counting the blank ones) run down Hollywood Boulevard and surrounding streets.

To get their names chiseled into one of the highly sought-after plaques, stars need to be nominated by admirers who are also willing and able to pony up $15,000, should the nominee be selected.

Eligible celebs must be at least five years into their twinkling careers and must agree to show up for the unveiling of their star--which can be a taxing duty for your average A-lister.

Some multitalented types earn stars in more than one category, like the most-starred Hollywood personality--singing cowboy Gene Autry, who earned five stars--one star apiece in the film, TV, music, theater and radio categories.

Then there's barely legal star recipients Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who may qualify as the Walk's least-starred celebs.

The twins had their star ceremony in April, but like their split gig as Full House's Michelle Tanner, the duo was forced to share a single plaque--which means each sister can claim exactly one half of a Walk of Fame star.