The China Mail - 'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman gets Hollywood star

Ryan Coogler, who directed Boseman in the 2018 hit, actress Viola Davis and Boseman's widow, Simone Ledward-Boseman, led the emotional ceremony in the heart of Tinseltown.

"Today was a beautiful day," Ledward-Boseman told AFP.

"Everyone was just so full of love and joy. And we're all so proud of this person that we knew, that we shared."

Coogler remembered Boseman as an "incredibly generous" person.

"Even when he knew his days were limited, and his moments were numbered, he still gave to the art form. He still threw himself into the fire," he said.

Chadwick Boseman began his career in theater and television before making the leap to film.

Boseman's most famous character T'Challa/Black Panther was introduced in "Captain America: Civil War" (2016).

Two years later he reprised the role in the hugely successful standalone "Black Panther," becoming the first Black actor to take the lead in the sprawling Marvel franchise.

Boseman died in 2020 at the age of 43 after suffering from colon cancer for four years.

The debilitating disease did not keep him from making movies or from fully committing to his craft, Coogler said.

"Even though he was going through what he was going through, he would do his own stunts, he would be there for off-camera dialogue readings. It was incredible."

Viola Davis, with whom he shared the screen in 2020's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," which would be his final outing, said Boseman's work "reminded us that we are less alone."

"That was Chadwick, more than just an actor who you can observe on screen doing wonderful work."

Disney CEO Bob Iger, actor Michael B. Jordan, and the late actor's brothers, Kevin and Derrick Boseman, also attended the ceremony.

C.Smith--ThChM