New Walk of Fame Stars Dig Their Canadian Roots

Copyright 2001 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.

homegrown talent

It's been a big week for celebrating our own - as un-Canadian a concept as that is generally perceived. Consider the front page of this paper over the last two days: Thursday stage and screen star Martin Short got a doctorate from his alma mater, McMaster University. Yesterday, sex therapist Sue Johanson, one of 53 recipients of this year's Order of Canada.

The Guess Who, too, recently received an honorary doctorate from their hometown University of Brandon - and yesterday the veteran Canadian rockers were among 14 new inductees to Canada's Walk Of Fame.

Also unveiling their sidewalk stars at yesterday's ceremonies: Inuit artist Kenojuak Ashevak, hockey great Jean Beliveau, champion figure skater Kurt Browning, baseball Hall Of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, actor Leslie Nielsen, polka king Walter Ostanek and prima ballerina Veronica Tennant.

Deborah Jerome Smith, daughter of world record sprinter Harry Jerome, represented her late father.

A special star was also posthumously awarded to inventor Alexander Graham Bell.

The four inductees not in attendance - author Margaret Atwood, theatre and film auteur Robert Lepage, Hollywood producer/director Ivan Reitman and opera star Teresa Stratas - are expected to acknowledge their honours at a later date.

This year more than 30,000 submissions came in by public vote, with the honorees selected from a short list of 30 by the Walk Of Fame board. Reportedly, this year, Leonard Cohen, Shania Twain, Wayne Gretzky and Dan Aykroyd did not make the cut.

Last night's honours capped a heady week for The Guess Who, a rock 'n' roll success story that started in Winnipeg back in 1957, when founding members Randy Bachman and Gary Peterson formed their first band.

"Last week," recalled Bachman, "at our honorary doctorate thing, our Grade 12 high school principal came. He's about 80. . . . He was always, you know, 'Stay in school. You're gonna be a bum.' And he came up to us later, 'Boy, if you guys had listened to me, you wouldn't be where you are today.' "

But then, for The Guess Who, acceptance has always been something of a struggle.

"Even when we did our first quote-unquote reunion in 1983 or whatever it was, all they could say was 'They're tired. They're fat. They're bald,' " said Peterson. "But when we did the tour this summer, I think everybody was finally ready to acknowledge that we were a great Canadian band. . . .

"And that's what this Walk Of Fame is about. It's about honouring all these people from every walk of life who have achieved . . . and they are Canadians. That's great."

The new additions bring the sidewalk stars to 52 along the Walk Of Fame: 13 designated city blocks running through the heart of the city's theatre district.

Intermittent rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm at last night's unveiling ceremonies, as a few hundred fans huddled damply in bleachers set up along Simcoe St. outside Roy Thomson Hall.

A formal cocktail party and sold-out gala tribute and dinner followed, co- hosted by celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan, improv icon Colin Mochrie and singer/songwriter Jann Arden, with performances by 1998 inductee Gordon Lightfoot and the Popstars pre-fab girl group, Sugar Jones.

Earlier in the afternoon, fellow honoree Walter Ostanek was spotted gleefully collecting autographs from every member of The Guess Who.

Ostanek says he's now semi-retired after 44 years as the "Canadian King of Polka," with 62 recordings to his name and 13 Grammy nominations, three of them wins.

"I may not be a millionaire in my bank account, but I'm a millionaire when it comes to doing what I enjoy. And it can't get any better than today, when I get to stand next to Leslie Nielsen, who is one of my favourites."

Nielsen stood a few feet off to the left, curiously regarding the business card and complimentary polka CD Ostanek had just thrust into his hands.

Nielsen has just wrapped Men With Brooms, a new Canadian curling movie directed, co-written by and co-starring his Due South pal, Paul Gross.

"It's going to turn out well. And it's great for me, because it's a straight drama. Well, it's got fun in it. But it's not a wacko comedy."

After carving out an entire career south of the border, it's only in the last last few years that Nielsen has been able to find consistent work at home. "I just did three pictures in a row in Vancouver," he marvelled. "It's wonderful. "

As is the Walk Of Fame honour, he added. "The best part is, I had nothing to do with it. I didn't have friends who came in and said 'Hey, he should be on the Walk Of Fame!' This came about because of people across the country.