Hollywood Boulevard Just Won't Be The Same
Talking about someone who got it, this was one crazy cool white cat. Johnny Grant, who visited Hollywood in 1943 as a star-struck serviceman and returned to carve out a niche first as a radio and television personality and then as its honorary mayor and foremost booster, died Wednesday at the age of 84.
The never married no children toast of Tinsletown appeared to have died of natural causes, after being found unconscious in the penthouse of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where Grant made his home.
In a career spanning seven-decades, Grant hosted an early television game show, covered Hollywood on radio and TV, worked as a disc jockey, and acted in movies and on the small screen. But it was as Tinseltown cheerleader that he became a celebrity himself.
Grant hosted hundreds of Walk of Fame inductions, being photographed alongside a succession of stars as their names were immortalized on the sidewalks of Hollywood. He had produced the now-defunct Hollywood Christmas Parade since 1987 and, like his friend Bob Hope, also took Hollywood to the troops.
He seemed always to remember that millions of people were in awe of the name Hollywood, just as he was as a boy growing up in Goldsboro, N.C. Grant sought to preserve that magical image long after most of the stars and studios had moved elsewhere and the streets became the haunt of prostitutes, addicts and the homeless. His prescription was always the same: put on a show.
In 1980, when he took over as Walk of Fame chairman, "you couldn't get anyone to come to Hollywood Boulevard," he told a reporter in 1997. "So I said, 'Why don't we really put on a big show when we have a Walk of Fame ceremony.' We had planes fly over, bands, etc."
Grant's own star is in the walk's choicest location -- outside Mann's Chinese Theatre. The master of self-promotion organized the ceremony and said its extravagance landed him the job as Walk of Fame chairman.
His handprints and footprints were added to the theater's famed courtyard in a 1997 ceremony that included a flyover by World War II-era planes. Grant arrived in a rickshaw accompanied by a police motorcycle escort, a marching band and two hook-and-ladder firetrucks, their ladders raised to form an archway.
Grant was short in stature, with a deep voice that helped him land his first show business job -- working as a radio announcer in his hometown after high school graduation. He was fond of saying that he never worried about his height after seeing Mickey Rooney in "Boys Town" and resolving, "if that little squirt can make it, so can I." Rooney, incidentally, was on hand for Grant's Walk of Fame induction.
Da mayor loved an audience. When a restaurant co-owned by Jack Klugman created a pizza in Grant's honor, the main ingredient was ham. Grant estimated that he had been master of ceremonies at more than 5,000 events. In 1976, Grant produced and emceed Operation Understanding, where he and 51 other well-known people disclosed their alcoholism.
During his career Grant received two Emmys and the Academy of Television Arts and Science's Governors Award. His acting roles, usually as a reporter, disc jockey or TV host, included the films "White Christmas," "The Babe Ruth Story" and "The Oscar." He appeared on TV's "The Lucy Show," among others. It was the Hollywood chamber that, in 1980, named him "mayor for life." Grant enjoyed saying that it was "the best job in town," and that he wanted his ashes strewn under the Hollywood Sign.
Grant hosted hundreds of Walk of Fame inductions, being photographed alongside a succession of stars as their names were immortalized on the sidewalks of Hollywood. He had produced the now-defunct Hollywood Christmas Parade since 1987 and, like his friend Bob Hope, also took Hollywood to the troops.He seemed always to remember that millions of people were in awe of the name Hollywood, just as he was as a boy growing up in Goldsboro, N.C. Grant sought to preserve that magical image long after most of the stars and studios had moved elsewhere and the streets became the haunt of prostitutes, addicts and the homeless. His prescription was always the same: put on a show.
In 1980, when he took over as Walk of Fame chairman, "you couldn't get anyone to come to Hollywood Boulevard," he told a reporter in 1997. "So I said, 'Why don't we really put on a big show when we have a Walk of Fame ceremony.' We had planes fly over, bands, etc."
Grant's own star is in the walk's choicest location -- outside Mann's Chinese Theatre. The master of self-promotion organized the ceremony and said its extravagance landed him the job as Walk of Fame chairman.His handprints and footprints were added to the theater's famed courtyard in a 1997 ceremony that included a flyover by World War II-era planes. Grant arrived in a rickshaw accompanied by a police motorcycle escort, a marching band and two hook-and-ladder firetrucks, their ladders raised to form an archway.
Grant was short in stature, with a deep voice that helped him land his first show business job -- working as a radio announcer in his hometown after high school graduation. He was fond of saying that he never worried about his height after seeing Mickey Rooney in "Boys Town" and resolving, "if that little squirt can make it, so can I." Rooney, incidentally, was on hand for Grant's Walk of Fame induction.
Da mayor loved an audience. When a restaurant co-owned by Jack Klugman created a pizza in Grant's honor, the main ingredient was ham. Grant estimated that he had been master of ceremonies at more than 5,000 events. In 1976, Grant produced and emceed Operation Understanding, where he and 51 other well-known people disclosed their alcoholism.During his career Grant received two Emmys and the Academy of Television Arts and Science's Governors Award. His acting roles, usually as a reporter, disc jockey or TV host, included the films "White Christmas," "The Babe Ruth Story" and "The Oscar." He appeared on TV's "The Lucy Show," among others. It was the Hollywood chamber that, in 1980, named him "mayor for life." Grant enjoyed saying that it was "the best job in town," and that he wanted his ashes strewn under the Hollywood Sign.