Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― Flowers will be placed on Johnny Grant's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday, one day after the honorary mayor of Hollywood and longtime producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade died at age 84.

Grant died Wednesday night at his penthouse apartment in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. A cause of death was not available. He is survived by three sisters.

At noon, flowers will be placed on Grant's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, according to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Funeral plans were pending.

"Johnny Grant was Hollywood's greatest star," said Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti. "He brought Hollywood the industry and Hollywood the neighborhood together."

As honorary mayor, Grant presided over many unveilings of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the last coming Friday for the late actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

Born in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1923, Grant began his career in 1939 as a newscaster on WGBR there, receiving national acclaim for broadcasting periodic live reports on a notorious murder trial, in what was believed to be the first time a microphone was allowed in a courtroom.

Grant served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, the start of a longtime relationship with the military. Grant was a major general in the California State Military Reserve, the all-volunteer backup and support force of the California National Guard.

Grant is believed to have made the most overseas tours to entertain U.S. troops, 60, with the final one coming last month to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The USO and military has been a big part of my life, ever since WWII, when as a GI, I emceed a show and introduced Bob Hope," Grant said before leaving for Cuba.

"He encouraged me to come to Hollywood when the war was over. Hope gave me the combination to the joke file lock and sent me to March Field to stand in for him 55 years ago, and I haven't stopped since."

Grant made 15 trips to Korea and 14 to Vietnam.

Grant was also the producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade for 20 years, transforming it into one of the world's largest celebrity events.

Grant was one of television's earliest game show hosts, hosting "Stop the Clock" on the Dumont Network beginning in 1946. He began as a color commentator on West Coast college football games in 1949 and hosted "7 to 8," an NBC morning program from 1953-54.

Grant hosted the "Freeway Club" on KMPC-AM (710) from 1951-59. He is credited with being the nation's first disc jockey to intersperse traffic reports between playing records and interviewing celebrity guests.

Grant said one of his most satisfying projects was producing and hosting "Operation Understanding" in 1976, where 52 prominent recovering alcoholics went public with their affliction. It was the first major effort to remove the stigma from alcoholism, and in encouraging others to seek help with alcohol and drug dependency.

The program was credited with helping thousands on the road to recovery and reclaiming otherwise productive lives.

Grant was the master of ceremonies for the openings of both the Nixon and Reagan presidential libraries.

Grant's honors include two stars on the Walk of Fame and a street named for him, Johnny Grant Way, which leads from Highland Avenue into the Kodak Theatre.

"He defined class and commitment to his craft and to his adopted hometown," Garcetti said. "He not only helped usher in Hollywood's first golden age, but he stuck with Hollywood when many others abandoned it and he helped usher in the second golden age that we are now seeing begin."

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)