This month, “Senior Reporter” is honoring the latest recipient of the coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – Laura Linney.

Despite her fame resulting from her three-decade career as a successful actress on screen and stage, Linney remains humble and admits that she carries a perception among fans and Hollywood insiders of “just who is Laura Linney?”

Most of us remember Craig T. Nelson, now 78, for his most notable acting role as Hayden
Fox in the highly successful TV sitcom “Coach.” By the time the show appeared in1989 and ran for eight years, Nelson had already established himself as a career actor on the small and large screens, and as a standup comic.

His biggest roles in some 34 movies include Deputy Warden Wilson in the 1980 film “Stir Crazy,” as Steve Freeling in the 1982 film “Poltergeist,” as Peter Dellaplane in “Action Jackson,” as Chief Howard Hyde in “Turner & Hooch,” and the warden in “My Name is Earl.”

J.Lo’s Dream Comes True And dream she did – at age 5. Encouraged by her Puerto Rican parents who filled their Bronx home with music, singing, and dancing – and the original “West Side Story” Broadway hit — Jennifer Lynn

“J.Lo” Lopez, now 52, knew she wanted to be an entertainer. As a child, she took dance lessons at Ballet Hispanico on the Upper West Side of New York City. As a teenager, she learned flamenco, jazz, and ballet at the local Boys and Girls Club.

When Tony Bennett was quoted as saying “it’s a blessing to just being alive,” the 95-yearold legendary crooner was not merely whistling Dixie, he was making a statement that defines his entire existence.

Although his concert-playing days are now in the history books due to Alzheimer’s, Bennett continues to be revered, not only for his contributions to popular American music but also for his love of America, the country he fought for during World War II in the Battle of the Bulge

When I think of Bette Midler, I can’t help but start humming one of her most famous songs,
“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” which was a modern rendition of the Andrews Sisters hit from the 1940s. And, for those of us who grew up exposed to World War II American music, Midler epitomized the sounds and tunes of that era.

Combined with her outrageous comedic talent, she quickly established herself as a major force in the entertainment industry. Her career has resulted in the highest honors that can be bestowed on a star of music, film, and stage, including four Golden Globes, three Grammys, three Emmys, two Tonys, and the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor which she received last year at age 75

One of the most interesting aspects of writing about a Boomer era celebrity each month is the path taken from obscurity to fame. This is what makes the story of Johnny Mathis, now 86 years young, so remarkable.

Not long after his birth in Gilmer, in East Texas, Mathis’ parents, Clem Mathis and Mildred Boyd moved him and his six siblings to San Francisco’s Richmond District where he grew up. His father, a singer, and pianist who had worked in vaudeville noticed that his young son had singing talent after watching him perform at church and school functions.

Now that the holiday season is in the rearview mirror, there is always one song that stays in my head for weeks down the road. There is something about Brenda Lee’s iconic tune – ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’– that brings back memories of my long-ago youth.

For those of us born in the early to mid-1940s, our versions of the ‘happy days’ (the fabulous 50s) consisted of listening to radios, many of the transistor and battery variety, and marveling at the very beginning of the Rock ’n Roll era.