Richard Burton Finally Makes It In Hollywood By Fraser McAlpine | Posted on Friday, February 15th, 2013 (BBC AMERICA)

Richard Burton (AP Images)

I don’t wish to appear cynical about kind-hearted gestures, or long-standing historical wrongs that have finally been put right, but the news that Richard Burton is to be awarded a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 1, has raised at least one of my eyebrows so high it is currently keeping my neck warm.

Really? Richard Burton gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in 2013? Some three decades after he died? Doesn’t this raise some worrying questions about the validity of the whole ‘stars in the pavement’ scheme in the first place?

Questions like:

• Huh? Isn’t he already there? Shouldn’t someone go and check?

• Who else is missing from the list? If you can forget about a star of the magnitude of Richard Burton, shouldn’t we have a quick check to see if, say, Humphrey Bogart made it? Should we check for Charlie Chaplin?

• How many stars are there on the list that really shouldn’t have been there before Burton? I mean, Randy Newman has a star on the Walk of Fame. I love Randy Newman. I bow to no one in my appreciation of his salty songs (and his vinegary songs are even better), but I think even Randy Newman would be tempted to conclude that he’s behind Richard Burton in the putting-your-name-in-a-star-on-the-floor stakes.

• Seriously, someone should check he’s not already there…

READ MORE: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/02/richard-burton-finally-makes-it-in-hollywood/