One Academy Award, two Oscars nominations, a Bafta and a Golden Globe – over the course of his career, Russell Crowe has earned both respect and numerous accolades from the film industry.
And on Monday he marked his considerable achievements with yet another honour as he proudly received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Being recognised in such a way by his peers was not a decision Russell took lightly; interestingly the Gladiator star had turned down the chance to receive a star on numerous occasions.But with his expansive back catalogue of roles - recent films include Body of Lies, State of Play and Robin Hood - the 46-year-old finally feels worthy of the famous plaque.
Russell, his wife Danielle Spencer and their two sons, Tennyson and Charles, jetted in from Australia for the unveiling ceremony, where they were joined by some of his former colleagues.
Chat show host Jay Leno, director Ron Howard, producer Brian Glazer and Avatar actor Sam Worthington all turned out so show their support and to commemorate Russell's star – located not far from that of his idol, Marlon Brando.Introducing Russell on Hollywood Boulevard was Jay, who described the man of the moment as "an all-round good guy" who "just happens to be one the greatest actors in the world. "Addressing the crowd, the actor then accepted his star saying: "Next to Sir Anthony Hopkins, that’s not a bad spot. It’s a nice piece of real estate.""There's no place I would rather be, apart from with my family, than on a movie set on a feature film – particularly those first few days when the excitement and the freshness is still there.""Anyway, as I said, thanks for the privilege and I'll always be grateful for it. "The unveiling of Russell's star comes one month before the release of his latest venture, Robin Hood, which will open the Cannes Film Festival.Speaking of his decision to finally accept the honour, the dad-of-two joked: "I've turned it down a number of times before because I didn’t think I'd done enough.""But now I sort of got to the point where gee whiz if I don’t say yes soon, they probably stop asking me!"
