To: Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Walk of Fame Selection Committee

I, Ramon La Cruz Hart, will officially present this petition to members of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the honorary Chairperson of the Hollywood Walk of Fame selection committee. Mr. Ernie Hudson is one of a few actors in the pantheon of great actors who can lay claim to a professional resume as long and varied as his. But, Mr. Hudson has always been a unique screen presence, capable of taking on any role. He was slimed when he co-starred as one of the "Ghostbusters" in two films; he played the simple-minded handyman Solomon in the box-office smash "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle", and currently stars as Warden Glynn in the critically acclaimed HBO series "Oz,".

Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, a career in show business seemed like an unlikely path for young Ernie Hudson, who was already married with a young son when he enrolled at Wayne State University as a Speech and English major. Hudson's early ambition was to be a writer, and was for a time the resident playwright at Detroit's Concept East, the oldest black theater company in the country at that time. Later, he founded the Actors Ensemble Theater, which allowed him and other black performers to stage and appear in their own works. After attending Wayne State, Hudson accepted a full scholarship to the Master of Fine Arts Program at Yale University. This led to a number of regional theater roles and critical acclaim, and his feature film debut in "Leadbelly."

Even after his first marriage had ended along with the birth of his sons Ernest Jr. and Rahaman " RAHI HIGH " were 10 and 7 years old, as a full-time dad he continued pursuing his acting dreams! There were parts in feature films like "The Main Event" with Barbra Streisand, "The Jazz Singer" with Neil Diamond, "The Octagon with Chuck Norris, and television projects like Abby Mann's acclaimed miniseries "King" and the highly-rated "Roots II." Hudson found himself alternating between film and television roles until 1983, when he was cast as Winston Zeddemore, the fourth member of the "Ghostbusters" team. The two "Ghostbusters" films, starring Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd, were huge box-office hits and gave Hudson a higher profile than he had ever known. He continued to work at a steady pace and began to get recognized on the street.

Hudson's subsequent screen roles included parts in "Weeds" with Nick Nolte, "Leviathan," "Sugar Hill," "The Cowboy Way," "Speechless," "No Escape," "The Substitute," and "Basketball Diaries." When director Curtis Hanson ("LA. Confidential") was making "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle," he cast Hudson in the pivotal role of Solomon. movie." Another favorite role of Hudson's was in the thriller "Congo" where he played the ' leading man ' type of role! The character in 'Congo' was my Ronald Colman character, the man who ran the show.

Hudson also co-starred as Officer Albrecht in the 1994 thriller "The Crow" opposite the late Brandon Lee. Although Lee's death, a result of an on-set accident, is still a painful memory, Hudson remains proud of the movie. says. It is his role on "Oz" that has occupied Hudson's television work in recent time. Series co-creator Tom Fontana had worked with Hudson when he guest-starred on eight episodes of "St. Elsewhere" years ago, and cast him as Warden Leo Glynn, the fair- minded warden of the high-tech experimental unit of a maximum-security prison. Produced by Fontana and Barry Levinson, "Oz" was one of HBO's signature programs. Recently, Hudson won the International Press Academy Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Drama Series for his work on "Oz."



As he continues with his career, Ernie Hudson has also successfully fought a nemesis that often derails performers - aging. . Not wanting to be typecast, he's recently taken on more daring parts, including playing the cigar-smoking professional golfer in "Miracle on the 1 7th Green," a terrorist expert in TBS' highly-rated premiere film "Nowhere to Land," a psychotic mass murderer in the thriller "October 22," the President of the United States in the action film "Stealth Fighter," and the late James Jordan in the Fox Family telefilm "Michael Jordan: An American Hero. In his current roles, Hudson is as usual proving equally comfortable in any genre. He can be seen in Universal's "The Watcher," a suspense thriller starring with Keanu Reeves, James Spader and Marisa Tomei. He so- stars in the Castle Rock comedy "Miss Congeniality," with Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, and Michael Caine.

As for his recent TV roles, he stars in the TV movie for A&E "Spenser: Walking Shadows," with Joe Mantegna and Marcia Gay Harden. He recently wrapped production on a CBS TV movie "A Town Without Christmas," where he stars with Patricia Heaton and Peter Falk, and guest starred in a special episode of "Touched By An Angel." For someone with over 100 film and television credits on his resume, Ernie Hudson still considers his biggest challenges ahead of him. Thank you for your support!