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Photo courtesy of Bob Odenkirk/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Monday honoring “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk for a career in which he has received 16 Emmy nominations as a producer, writer, actor and lyricist.
Odenkirk reminisced at the ceremony about how he used to visit the Walk of Fame and “pretend” to show complete disdain for all things Hollywood.
“I walked the streets with my nose high in the air, scoffing at every symbol of Hollywood and fame and famous people and celebrities and everything about it that was so big and distant and intimidating,” he said. “And I still do that. I still pretend to disdain it all. It’s healthy. It’s better that way. But inside, I don’t disdain Hollywood. I love it.”
David Cross and “Better Call Saul” castmate Rhea Seehorn were among those joining Odenkirk at the ceremony in front of the former Redbury Hotel building at 1725 Vine St., near Hollywood Boulevard.
Cross and Odenkirk starred in and hosted the 1995-98 HBO sketch comedy “Mr. Show with Bob and David” which brought Odenkirk two Emmy nominations for outstanding writing for a variety or music program and one for outstanding music and lyrics as the lyricist for the song “How High The Mountain.”
Odenkirk, Cross and Brian Posehn co-wrote “Hollywood Said No!” a collection of their unproduced screenplays which reached The New York Times’ best-seller list.
The star is the 2,720th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the first 1,558 stars. It is next to the star of Bryan Cranston, with whom Odenkirk co-starred in “Breaking Bad,” the 2008-13 AMC drama about a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher who turns to making and selling methamphetamine.
The ceremony came on the same day as the start of the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul,” AMC’s spinoff of “Breaking Bad.”
Odenkirk made his first appearance as fast-talking criminal defense attorney Saul Goodman in the 2009 second-season “Breaking Bad” episode, “Better Call Saul,” in what was supposed to be a three-episode arc, but remained on the series for the rest of its run.
Odenkirk received outstanding lead actor in a drama series Emmy nominations in each of first four seasons of “Better Call Saul.” He is also a producer of “Better Call Saul,” which received outstanding drama series Emmy nominations in each of its five completed seasons, which resulted in five more Emmy nominations for Odenkirk.
Born Oct. 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, and raised in nearby Naperville, Odenkirk graduated from Naperville North High School when he was 16 years old. He was a sketch writer and performer at the radio stations at Marquette and Southern Illinois universities and a disc jockey for WIDB, Southern Illinois University’s student-run station.
Following college, Odenkirk was an improv performer in Chicago, including performing with future “Saturday Night Live” cast members Chris Farley and Tim Meadows.
Odenkirk was a writer for “Saturday Night Live” from 1987-1995, winning an outstanding writing in a variety or music program Emmy in 1989 and receiving a nomination in the category in 1991.
Odenkirk won his other Emmy in 1993 for outstanding individual achievement in writing a variety or music program for the one-season Fox sketch comedy series, “The Ben Stiller Show.”
Odenkirk also received an Emmy nomination in 2013 as a co-executive producer of “The Simpsons,” which was nominated for outstanding animated program.
Odenkirk’s other television acting credits include “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Fargo” and the IFC sketch comedy series “The Birthday Boys,” which he was among the executive producers.
Odenkirk starred in the 2021 action comedy thriller “Nobody.” His other film credits include the 2013 best picture Oscar nominee “Nebraska.”
AMC announced April 6 it was “fast-track developing a potential new series starring Odenkirk for 2023 titled “Straight Man,” based on the novel by Richard Russo.
AMC describes “Straight Man” as “a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux Jr. (Odenkirk), the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.”
