LOS ANGELES – Every dog has its day, and Monday was Snoopy's, as Charlie Brown's cartoon sidekick joined the list of Hollywood legends with his own star on the city's Walk of Fame.
In a tongue-in-cheek ceremony honoring the "world's best-known and most accomplished beagle," Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president Leron Gubler presented the Peanuts comic strip dog – represented by an actor in a human-sized Snoopy suit – with the 2,563rd named star embedded in the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard.
As the outsized alter ego and best friend to underdog hero Charlie Brown, Snoopy was "the original Joe Cool, a world-famous novelist, and a celebrated World War I Flying Ace," Gubler said.
"He's everything all of us should aspire to be," said film director Paul Feig at the mid-morning ceremony.
Snoopy's star is next to that of creator Charles M Schultz, whose Peanuts cartoon strip debuted in 1950 and went on to become one of the most beloved and influential comic strips of all time.
At the height of its success, Peanuts appeared daily in 75 countries, and commanded an audience of 355 million people.
Schultz died in 2000, but the franchise lives on. His son, Craig Schultz, directed the upcoming Peanuts feature film The Peanuts Movie, which is set to open in cinemas in the United States on Friday.
Snoopy may be the first beagle to get his own Walk of Fame star, but he's neither the first cartoon character nor the first dog.
The names of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck are forever inscribed in Hollywood's famous sidewalk, along with movie dogs Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.
Story: DPA
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