Bill Geist honored on Hollywood Walk of Fame
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| CBS news correspondent and author Bill Geist poses as he sits beside his newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California April 15, 2011. [Xinhua/Reuters] |
![CBS news correspondent and author Bill Geist poses as he sits beside his newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California April 15, 2011. [Xinhua/Reuters]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20110416/000cf1a48b7f0f13815647.jpg "CBS news correspondent and author Bill Geist poses as he sits beside his newly unveiled star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California April 15, 2011. [Xinhua/Reuters]")
Veteran CBS News correspondent Bill Geist finally got his star on the landmark Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday, when the 2,437th star was dedicated at a ceremony held next to the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, almost four years since he submitted an application.
The twice Emmy award winner credited his selection as a star recipient in 2007 to the late Hollywood Mayor Johnny Grant, whom he interviewed for a story about "how they were letting lesser lights on the Walk of Fame," he said at the ceremony.
Grant was the the longtime executive with the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce which is in charge of the Walk of Fame. He died on Jan. 9, 2008.
Geist, 65, said he was undecided whether to accept the star, but his son, Willie, the host of MSBNC's "Way Too Early with Willie Geist" and a co-host of "Morning Joe," and daughter Libby, who is an award-winning documentary film producer, "finally put me over the top."
"They said, 'Your grandkids can come and see it,'" Geist said. "It's like immortality."
The Geist story also included him asking Lassie, a canine star who was among the original 1,550 recipients of Walk of Fame stars when it was dedicated on Feb. 8, 1960, for advice on getting a star.
A long-time correspondent for "Sunday Morning" since joining CBS News in August 1987, Geist receiving Emmy Awards for his 1992 report on the 66th anniversary of Route 66 and a 2005 profile on Fred Carl, founder and current president and chief executive officer of Viking Range Corporation, a manufacturer of professional kitchen appliances that completely revitalized Greenwood, a small and impoverished town in Mississippi.
Geist contributes to "CBS Evening News," now-defunct news magazine "60 Minutes II" and, occasionally, "CBS Sports," which included CBS' coverage of the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics, the World Series, various Super Bowls and NCAA basketball tournaments.
He was a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune from 1972-80 and The New York Times from 1980-87. His "About New York" column appeared twice a week during this time.
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