Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

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This past Monday morning, I headed out to Downtown Hollywood to see Alec Baldwin receive the 2,433rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  For whatever reason, I typically do not attend many Walk of Fame events, but this month I found myself present at not one, but two!  As I blogged about two weeks ago, I went to Adam Sandler’s ceremony on February 1st and, because of all of the aggressive fans, figured I wouldn’t be hitting up another one for a good long time.  But then I found out that Alec Baldwin was being honored with a star on Valentine’s Day and because Jack Donaghy, the character Alec plays on 30 Rock, is one of my favorite television characters of all time, I just had to attend!  I asked my dad to come along with me, but he quickly ixnayed that idea, telling me “I wouldn’t walk across the street to see that guy!”  LOL LOL LOL  What can I say – my dad has never been one to mince words.  So, once again, I ventured out to watch the ceremony by myself.  I ended up meeting a SUPER nice fellow stalker/blogger named Pinky, from the PinkyLoveJoy blog, while I was there and spent most of my time prior to the ceremony literally drooling over her many photographs with celebrities, especially the one she had with Miss Sarah Jessica Parker.  Sigh!  So incredibly jealous!!!  Pinky is an absolutely amazing stalker and has photographs with literally everyone who is anyone in Hollywood.  And she has bundles of energy!  After spending hours at Alec’s ceremony, after which I was ready to call it a day, Pinky headed right on out to Westwood to do some stalking of the Rango premiere’s red carpet, where she got to meet and take a photograph with none other than Johnny Depp!  I’m telling you, she has the golden touch and is a far better stalker than I could ever hope to be!  Some of her magic did rub off on me, though, as I managed to snag a couple of photos with celebrities yesterday, but more on that later.

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I showed up to Alec’s ceremony at 10 a.m., about 90 minutes prior to when it was set to begin, and, amazingly enough, there were only about twenty or so fans there.  But then, all of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened and masses and masses of people started showing up – more people than were at the Adam Sandler ceremony, actually, which absolutely shocked me.  It finally dawned on me, though, that most people had the day off from work as it was Lincoln’s birthday, which is why I think so many fans were able to attend.

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Because so few people were there when I first arrived, I managed to snag a GREAT spot directly in front of Alec’s star.

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Unfortunately, about an hour later, the media was allowed in and they set up their ginormous cameras directly in front of Pinky and me, which completely obstructed our view.  So, the two of us decided to move over to the area directly behind Alec’s star, which did not allow us a good view of the actual ceremony, but turned out to be the PERFECT place to stand as we were situated in the exact spot where all of the celebrities entered and exited the event area.  YAY!

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Alec Baldwin showed up about ten minutes before the ceremony was set to start (love it!) and immediately walked up to the fans and started signing autographs.   Alec seemed very friendly and approachable.  Sadly, he was just a little too far to the side of where I was standing for me to be able to get a picture with him.

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Also in attendance for the ceremony was Alec’s brother Stephen Baldwin;

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actress Anne Heche, who starred with Alec onstage in the 2004 revival of the play “Twentieth Century” (Anne looked absolutely amazing in person, by the way, and I absolutely fell in love with the jacket she was wearing);

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Megan Mullally, who spoke during the ceremony;

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Megan’s husband, Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson on the television series Parks and Recreation;

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Jack McBrayer, who plays the belovedly daft Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock;

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and the two commentators pictured above, whose names I cannot for the life of me remember.

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Alec’s ceremony got started right on time, with an introduction by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler.

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Then Megan Mullally gave a brief speech honoring Alec.  Unfortunately, because of where I was standing, I could not hear most of what was said, but what I did hear was incredibly funny.  She even had Alec Baldwin doubled over with laughter at one point, as you can see in the above photograph. 

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Megan explained that she first met Alec when he guest-starred as a government agent with whom her character, Karen Walker, had an affair on the hit television show Will & Grace.  She also stated that Alec got his start in soap operas, which was fortuitous considering his personal life in recent years.  Winking smile  And she informed the crowd that Alec had three beloved brothers – “Shawn, Damon, and Keenan Ivory” LOL – who all followed in his footsteps by “becoming handsome”.

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After Megan’s speech, Alec took to the stage and unfortunately I could not hear any of what he said.  Such a shame, too, as he had the fans situated at the front of the ceremony in hysterics. 

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After the ceremony was over, all of the stars who were in attendance headed over to the fan area to start signing autographs – all of the stars, that is, except for Jack McBrayer, who left the premises pretty much immediately and headed into Beso Restaurant where the after-party was being held.  Jack refused to sign any autographs or take any pictures on his way out, which was highly disappointing as I absolutely LOVE him on 30 Rock.  Sadly, he did not seem at all nice or friendly.  There was a group of three teenage girls standing next to me who were HUGE fans of his who at one point yelled out to him, “Be our Valentine, Jack McBrayer!”, but he refused to look their way or even acknowledge them in any way, which I thought was pretty crappy. 

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He did give a very brief wave to the crowd on his way out, but, other than that, there was no attempt on his part to be friendly to the fans at any point during the event. 

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After Alec finished giving interviews to the press, he walked over to the crowd and spent quite a bit of time signing autographs. 

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Sadly though, he only came over to our section for a brief moment and only took one photograph – with Pinky! – so I unfortunately did not get a picture with him.  You can check out Pinky’s photograph with Alec on her blog here

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BUT Megan Mullally came over shortly thereafter and signed autographs for and took pictures with absolutely everyone who wanted one . . .

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. . . including me!  YAY!  Megan was SUPER nice and SUPER friendly and I could NOT have been more excited to meet her!  (I had to take the above photograph myself, which is why it is such an extreme close up.)

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Anne Heche came over immediately following Megan and also stopped to pose for photographs with and to sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted them.  She was also incredibly nice and took her time speaking with all of the fans.  I really should have taken the opportunity to ask her where she had purchased her amazingly cute coat, but I was far too nervous to actually do so!

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Nick Offerman walked over next and was easily the friendliest out of the bunch.  SUCH an incredibly nice and seemingly down-to-earth guy. 

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And even though I have never seen an episode of Parks and Recreation, I absolutely LOVE Nick now.  What a complete and total sweetheart!

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Alec’s star is pictured above. 

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On a side note – Fellow stalkers/Drew Barrymore aficionados Ashley and Anne, of the Drewseum website, got to meet up with their celebrity hero this past Friday and their story is nothing short of A-MA-ZING!  I literally could NOT tear myself away from my BlackBerry while reading it.  I HIGHLY recommend reading about their incredibly touching and memorable encounter with Drew on their website here.  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame star can be found outside of Beso Restaurant, which is located at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony

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I found out a few weeks ago that Kyra Sedgwick would be receiving the 2,384th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Monday, June 8th.  So, I immediately called up my good friend Blaze and asked him if he wanted to join me in watching the ceremony.   He, of course, said yes, so today the two of us made our way out to Hollywood to watch Kyra receive her star.  And, even though  I had already seen the entire Closer  cast in person, I was still SUPER excited to attend this event because ever since Footloose  came out, I have absolutely LOVED me some Kevin Bacon.  🙂

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Kyra’s ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and unlike Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, this event actually started on time.  🙂  Amazingly enough, for some reason there weren’t that many people in attendance.  I’d say about forty-five fans and another fifty reporters and photographers were there.  Because there weren’t a lot of people in the audience, we were able to stand fairly close to the stage area, which I was thrilled about.  Up until just around 11:25, that is, when security guards led all of the media people into the area directly in front of the fans, completely blocking everyone’s view.  It was SUCH a bummer.  To make matters worse, many of the press photographers pulled out stepladders to stand on and propped their cameras up on huge tripods!  UGH.   So, even though I was standing right in the front row, I didn’t have the best view.  🙁  I have no idea why bleachers were not set up for the event, as this definitely would have rectified the situation.  Note to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – next time you have an event like this, invest in bleachers!  LOL 

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Right at 11:30 a.m. on the nose, Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon arrived and the event got underway.  Kyra looked absolutely adorable and I just about died over her salmon-colored dress.  I have got to get me one of those!!!!   What I was most impressed with, though, were her arms!!!!  I couldn’t take my eyes off of them the entire time!  As you can see in the above photograph, they are absolutely rock-hard!  Not bad for a 44-year-old mother of two!!!  I am so jealous!  I mean, I’m 31 and have no children and my arms don’t look nearly as good as hers!  LOL  Anyway, Kyra was introduced by  Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who gave us a brief background on Kyra and her career as an actress.  One of the many tid-bits of information he told us was that, contrary to popular belief, Kyra was actually born in Manhattan, not the South, and yes, her Closer  accent is a fake.  🙂

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After Leron’s introduction, Lee Daniels, who produced the 2004 movie  The Woodsman, which starred Kyra and her husband, got up to say a few words.  And when I say “a few words”, I literally mean a few words. LOL  I think the guy had maybe two sentences to say about Kyra.  It was kind of disappointing.  If you’re going to get up on a stage to honor someone during an awards ceremony, I’m of the opinion that you should spend a little bit of time writing your speech.  Brief and to the point is nice, but so is saying something meaningful.  LOL  All Lee basically said was that while working with Kyra on The Woodsman, she had taught him to “live in the moment”.   To quote Chelsea Lately, “What . . . a douchebag!!”  LOL 

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Next up was Kyra’s Closer  co-star, and my fave actor from the show, G.W. Bailey.  G.W. gave a FABULOUS – and absolutely hilarious – speech about Kyra and their experiences starring together on The Closer.  He started off his speech by listing the questions he most commonly gets asked about Kyra – such as is her accent real (no), is she really that tiny in person (yes!), is her hair real (yes), do she and Kevin Bacon really love each other that much (absolutely!), and what is she really like in person.  In answer to that last question, G.W. had this to say, “Kyra is a mix of Mary Poppins and Cruella DeVil.  If you come to the set on time and know your lines, she’s a spoonful of sugar.  If you come to the set late and haven’t done your homework, she’ll skin you alive and make a jacket out of you.  But then she’ll feel bad and end up giving the jacket to the homeless.”  LOL  I absolutely LOVED that quote, as one of my biggest pet peeves in acting class is lazy actors who don’t do their homework and don’t memorize their lines!!!!  You go, Kyra!  🙂

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G.W. called Kyra one of the most giving actresses he has ever worked with and said that the cast nicknamed her “Mama” early on because of the way she takes care of everyone.  I was actually an extra on The Closer a few months back and was able to witness firsthand how Kyra takes care of her crew.  At one point while I was there, Kyra held up filming for a few minutes in order to write out a grocery list of cold remedies and medications before sending someone out to pick them up for a make up artist who was feeling under the weather.  She is definitely a “Mama”.  🙂   G.W.’s speech was so sweet that he ended up making Kyra cry.  So cute!

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Next up was Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who ironically enough is the son of The Closer’s  consulting producer Gil Garcetti, who presented Kyra with a Hollywood Walk of Fame plaque.

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Then Kyra came to the podium to make a speech.  She announced at the very beginning that her speech would be brief due to the fact that her feet were already hurting from standing up for such a long time. 🙂  Kyra said that she wanted to be an actress since the age of 12, when she landed a role in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof.  She said that acting in that production made her “soul dance” and she knew at that moment that she never wanted to do anything else.

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But the best part of Kyra’s speech was when a Hollywood tour bus drove by!!!!   The tourists on board went absolutely crazy, so, Kyra stopped her speech and said hello to them using her Brenda Leigh Johnson accent!   LOL LOL LOL  Only in L.A.!  🙂

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Then, Kyra’s star was unveiled.  But, unfortunately, thanks to the press standing in the way, fans see couldn’t see it at all.  🙁  Such a bummer!!!   Kyra seemed absolutely thrilled to be receiving her star, though, and it made me tear up to think how special it must be to be honored as an actress in that way.   🙂

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Kyra was also given a plaque with a replica of her star on it.  Oh, how I want one of those!!!!!!!  With my own name on it, of course!!!!  🙂

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Then, the press asked if Kevin Bacon would come onstage and I just about died!!  During most of the ceremony, Kevin had been standing in the audience laying low.  I am pretty sure he didn’t want to steal any of his wife’s thunder during the event, so he just remained on the sidelines the entire time.  I had been trying to snap a photograph of him throughout the ENTIRE ceremony, but for some reason could just not get a good shot.  So, when he finally came onstage, I was FLOORED!  KB is still a total cutie after all these years and I could not have been more excited to see him in person.  🙂     

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Also on hand to celebrate with Kyra were her Closer castmates Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett,  Anthony John Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, and Jonathan Del Arco, along with series consulting producer Gil Garcetti.

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Also in attendance was series creator James Duff. 

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After the ceremony was over, all of the stars – including Kyra and Kevin – came out into the audience to sign autographs and take photographs with the fans.  And I could not have been more excited!!!!!!   So, of course, I just had to ask my two favorite actors from the show for a pic – G.W. Bailey,

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and Anthony John Denison.  Unfortunately, I was using my dad’s huge paparazzi style camera at the event, and Blaze couldn’t figure out how to zoom out to take the above photograph.  LOL LOL LOL  Can you say “extreme close-up”??  Oh well, at least I got a pic.  🙂

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I so wanted to take a picture with KB, but, unfortunately, wasn’t standing near him when he came out into the audience.  But I did manage to snap the above pic of him as he was walking to his car. Sigh!!!!

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About an hour after the ceremony, I returned to see Kyra’s star unveiled, at last.  🙂

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As you can see in the above photograph, because it’s brand new, Kyra’s star is much shinier than any of the others on Hollywood Boulevard. 

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Kyra’s star is right next to husband Kevin Bacon’s, which makes them the only married couple in history to have side by side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  🙂

If you find yourself in the Hollywood area during a Walk of Fame Star Ceremony, I HIGHLY recommend attending one!  I had an absolute blast seeing all of the stars, listening to the speeches, and being a part of a historic Hollywood event!   It was definitely a better experience for me than the Hand and Footprint Ceremony and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Kyra Sedgwick’s star is located in front of Cinespace Nightclub, which is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.