"Celluloid Heroes" is a song performed by The Kinks and written by their lead vocalist and principal songwriter, Ray Davies. It debuted on their 1972 album Everybody's in Show-Biz. The song names several famous actors of 20th century film, and also mentions Los Angeles's Hollywood Boulevard, alluding to its Hollywood Walk of Fame. The actors mentioned are Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, George Sanders, and Mickey Rooney, although the verse mentioning the latter three is omitted in some recorded versions of the song (e.g. on One for the Road). Background An ode to classic Hollywood icons, "Celluloid Heroes" has since been singled out by Dave Davies as a standout track by the band: "One of my favorite songs ever, by anybody. I remember when we were just starting out down the road with tidying up the lyrics. That really filled me with a lot of emotion because it is quite an incredible idea anyway, all those [movie] stars, names and handprints being on those stars. There are all these great stars immortalized on pavement, in concrete." Release and reception The track was released as the second single from the album. In the UK, the single features the full album version which runs to over six minutes, but the US single used a more corporate-radio-friendly edit which is almost two minutes shorter. Although their previous single had been a top 20 hit on the UK singles chart, "Celluloid Heroes" failed to chart. The song appears on the band's live album One for the Road (1980) and was re-recorded for the 2009 album The Kinks Choral Collection. The song was also the title track of a 1976 collection featuring material originally released while recording for the RCA label, The Kinks' Greatest: Celluloid Heroes. Reviewing the live single, Record World called it "perhaps one of Ray Davies' finest compositions." List of actors mentioned in the lyrics Greta Garbo Rudolph Valentino Bela Lugosi Bette Davis George Sanders Marilyn Monroe Mickey Rooney Cover versions Joan Jett recorded this song for her all-covers album The Hit List. A live performance of this track (featuring Ray Davies) appeared as the B-side to Bon Jovi's 2002 single "Misunderstood". Steve Vai recorded a cover of this song on his album The Elusive Light and Sound Vol. 1. British actor and singer Tim Curry frequently performed this song during his tours in the late 70s.