A diverse group of celebrities from the worlds of music, film, literature and sports dominate this year's list of seven inductees into Canada's Walk of Fame, organizers announced Tuesday.
The roster for the 13th annual induction rolls from feisty writer Farley Mowat to acclaimed actor-director Sarah Polley. Also included are singers Nelly Furtado and David Clayton-Thomas, as well as Olympic athlete Clara Hughes and TV star Eric McCormack.
But the top of the 2010 honour roll belongs to the late magician and illusionist Doug Henning, who posthumously won the Cineplex Entertainment Canadian Legend Award. Henning died of liver cancer Feb. 7, 2000, in Los Angeles.
The seven additions join an august group of 124 previous inductees. To mark Tuesday's announcements, actor, singer and newly minted songwriter Hennessy, a 2007 inductee, sang two delicious new songs from her new CD, Ghost in my Head. Hennessy demonstrated how a Walk of Fame star is not the end of a career but a new chapter.
There will also be an eighth inductee for the Oct. 16 ceremony. Canada's Walk of Fame announced a new prize, with the first winner to be named later. The Allen Slaight Award will go to a young Canadian who has already made an impact on the country.
An honourary star will go to entertainment reporter Gloria Martin of 680 News, for her work in recognizing Canadian talent. She is the first media person to be honoured.
A look at this year's seven inductees:
Doug Henning was born in Winnipeg and died at 47. He was an emotionally fragile, eccentric man who dabbled in transcendental meditation, professed his love for humanity and once ran for public office while claiming he could fly through the power of his mind. Maintaining a child-like sense of wonder, he was most famous for lavish theatrical spectacles that dazzled audiences from Toronto to Broadway.
Farley Mowat, born in Belleville, Ont., turned 89 in May. He is the oldest of this year's inductees. After honourable military service for Canada in the Second World War, Mowat became one of Canada's most famous writers in both fiction and non-fiction. His book about the Canadian north, Never Cry Wolf, remains a classic and was made into a Hollywood film. Mowat is also an ardent environmentalist and political activist. He is so outspoken that he famously, and proudly, became a man of suspicion to U.S. intelligence agencies, who absurdly considered his opinions a threat to national security.
Nelly Furtado, who was born in Victoria but established her career in Toronto, is 29. She is known for blending her Portuguese-Canadian roots with popular music in bestselling CDs such as her Grammy-winning debut album, Whoa, Nelly!
David Clayton-Thomas, 68, was born in England to a Canadian soldier and English mother. He grew up in Toronto and became a 1960s and 1970s rock legend as the booming lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, performing hit songs such as Spinning Wheel. Like others of his era, including Walk of Fame inductees Neil Young, John Kay and Robbie Robertson, Clayton-Thomas gave American bands a strong Canadian flavour.
Sarah Polley, Toronto born and now 31, rose to prominence as a child actor. As an adult, she has continued her stellar career while delving into directing. Her extraordinary feature directorial debut, Away From Her, was nominated for two Oscars. Her second film goes before the cameras this summer.
Eric McCormack, Toronto-born and now 47, co-starred in the influential U.S. sitcom Will & Grace, which marked a breakthrough for the sympathetic portrayal of gay characters in American primetime television.
Clara Hughes, Winnipeg born and now 37, is an exceptional sportswoman. She is one of only five athletes who have won medals in both the summer and winter Olympic Games — and is the only one to win multiple times in both. Hughes retired from competition in February after the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver but remains active in humanitarian efforts such as the Right to Play movement.
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