Robert Englund to receive WOF star
A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring Robert Englund, best known for his portrayal of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” villain Freddy Krueger, will be unveiled on Halloween.
LOS ANGELES – A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honoring horror icon Robert Englund, the actor best known for playing “A Nightmare on Elm Street” villain Freddy Krueger, will be unveiled on Halloween.
What we know:
The star will be unveiled at an 11:30 a.m. ceremony at 6644 Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Larry Edmunds bookshop, near Cherokee Avenue.
The location was chosen specifically because the bookstore, which focuses on film and theater history, is Englund’s favorite, according to Anna Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of fame.
The ceremony will feature appearances and speeches from Englund’s former co-star Heather Langenkamp and director Eli Roth. Langenkamp portrayed the heroine Nancy Thompson in the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) and its second sequel, “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1987).
Roth was a producer and cast member of the 2001 comedy horror film, “2001 Maniacs,” in which Englund starred as the eccentric mayor of a Georgia town.
The backstory:
Born June 6, 1947, in Glendale, Englund began acting after stumbling into his first class through a friend when he was 12 years old. He received most of his training with the American branch of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at Oakland University.
Englund performed classic plays on the East Coast for five years before returning to California, where he landed his first auditioned role in the 1974 film, “Buster and Billie.” his early career included roles in “Stay Hungry” (1976), which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sally Field, and “A Star is Born” (1976), starring Barbra Streisand.
A biography supplied by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce noted that after the success of his breakout role as the sweet alien Wllie in the 1983 NBC miniseries “V” Englund feared being typecast and looked for a role that would showcase a different side of his talents. This led him to audition for “A Nightmare on Elm Street, ” where director Wes Craven originally planned to cast a hulking stuntman but took a chance on Englund, who utilized his classical theatrical training for the role.
He would go on to portray Freddy Krueger in seven entries in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” film franchise, the crossover film “Freddy v. Jason,” and the television anthology series, “Freddy’s Nightmares.”
He also provided the character’s voice in a 1998 episode of The Simpsons” and portrayed Krueger in a 2018 episode of “The Goldbergs.”
The Source: Information for this story is from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
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