Simone Ledward Boseman, the widow of late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, has said he was “more than an actor” as he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The actor, who also played singer James Brown in Get On Up (2014) and baseball player Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013), died in August 2020 aged 43, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
Speaking at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday, an emotional Ledward Boseman said: “Chad was more than an actor or even an artist, he was a spiritual teacher, fortified by a family and close friends that kept him grounded in faith, a team that believed in him, protected him and fought for him.
“Colleagues that trusted his vision, that lifted him up and forged a real brotherhood, you have no idea how pivotal those moments were, thank you.
“Chad taught all of us a great deal. His heart was so vast, he could give each and every person a specific part of him and still have so much left to share with the world.
“Shortly after he passed, Chad came to me in a dream, and said that there was only so much that he could do from here, these words were echoed by a close friend only days later, as if to say, in case you didn’t hear me the first time.”
Boseman’s star was number 2,828 on the street, and was accepted by his widow.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler also spoke during the ceremony, wearing a bracelet he had been given by Boseman and tearing up during his speech.
He said: “We continue to carry him with us, Chad was a star deserving of a star on the Walk of Fame, but he was also our most incredible jewel, he reflected light, he refracted it, and when he did, he showed the greatness of our people, and the universe of our shared humanity, thank you Chad.”
Actress Viola Davis, who starred alongside Boseman in his final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020), as the titular character, was the first to take to the stage, and spoke about the South Carolina-born star’s love of drumming, and added that she “can’t use the word gone or death when thinking about him”.
She said: “Chadwick was a mighty, mighty elixir that sort of stirred up that alchemy that we’re all in search of, which is meaning, I celebrate him today, and I say to him, I hope all the angels in heaven just sang him to a beautiful rest.
“And I thank him for what he left behind in me, which is a burning amber that always guides me to a higher meaning of my work and my purpose.”
At the end of the ceremony, which was plagued with sound issues, a cover was lifted off Boseman’s star and touched by Ledward Boseman.
Following his death, Boseman’s best known role of superhero T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther (2018) was not recast or digitally recreated in its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), with the movie reflecting his passing.
