Chadwick Boseman’s legacy continues to shine throughout culture. And soon, it will be immortalized in Hollywood. This week, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that the late “Black Panther” star will be honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is deeply honored to celebrate Chadwick Boseman’s extraordinary legacy with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” Ana Martinez, Hollywood Walk of Fame producer, told Billboard. “His powerful performances and enduring impact both on and off screen continue to inspire generations around the world.”
Boseman, who died in 2020 at 43 after a private battle with colon cancer, will be honored on Nov. 20. Billboard reports that “Sinners” director Ryan Coogler and Viola Davis, who starred alongside Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” will speak at the ceremony. His wife, Simone Ledward-Boseman, is set to accept the honor on his behalf.
The South Carolina native built a career portraying some of the most significant figures in Black American history, including Jackie Robinson, James Brown and Thurgood Marshall. However, it was his transformative performance as King T’Challa in Black Panther that cemented him as a global sensation.
In 2021, Boseman received a posthumous Academy Award nomination for his role as Levee Green in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” along with Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In addition to his posthumous awards, Boseman’s legacy was also honored by his alma mater, Howard University, which renamed it’s college of fine arts after the late actor.
Since his passing, Coogler, Davis and many of Boseman’s colleagues in the industry have spoken out about his impact on not only pop culture but also in their personal lives.
“He changed my life. He was quite a bit older than us even though he looked like he was the same age—he was not. He was a fully baked man from the South,” Coogler said of the late actor, earlier this year. “He was the kind of teacher who you never knew you was getting a lesson when he taught. It was all by example.”
In December 2020, Davis, 60, reflected on the impact of her late co-star.
“Lord knows we all would’ve wanted him to live another 50 years. We all want longevity,” she told Yahoo!. “But I can’t see his life tragically at all. … Because I felt like he was always living in the moment, squeezing out every bit of life. What it makes me think is, it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality. What I hold onto with Chad is that he lived his life his way. I would say his professional life has absolutely paralleled his personal life, that’s my guess, in terms of how he lived with the utmost integrity.”
Fans will be able to watch Boseman’s ceremony via livestream on WalkOfFame.com, and visit his star at 6904 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles.
