Morgan Freeman opened the annual In Memoriam segment at the
2025 Oscars by sharing kind words about his former co-star, Gene Hackman, who died last week.

Freeman addressed the Dolby Theatre audience in Hollywood by
saying, “This week, our community lost a giant — and I lost a dear
friend, Gene Hackman.”

Freeman continued, “I had the pleasure of working alongside Gene
on two films, Unforgiven and Under Suspicion, and like everyone
who ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer and a man whose gifts elevated everyone’s work.

He received two Oscars, but more importantly, he won the hearts
of film lovers all over the world.”

1992

2000

An idea floated by a Hollywood business leader in 1953 came to
fruition on February 8, 1960, when construction began on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame—today one of the Los Angeles area’s
main tourist attractions.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame’s history goes back to 1953, when
E.M. Stuart, volunteer president of the Hollywood Chamber of
Commerce, proposed building the Walk as a means to “maintain
the glory of a community whose name means glamour and
excitement in the four corners of the world.

The first star to be laid in the new Walk was that of Stanley
Kramer on March 28, 1960, near the intersection of Hollywood
and Gower.

Stanley Earl Kramer
(September 29, 1913 – February 19, 2001)