William Petersen Gets Star No. 2,379

Updated 7:45 AM PST, Tue, Feb 3, 2009

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William Petersen will receive the 2,379th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, 2-1/2 weeks after his final appearance on the hit CBS series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Marg Helgenberger, Petersen's "CSI" co-star, and William Friedkin, who directed Petersen in the 1985 film "To Live and Die in L.A." and the 1997 television version of "12 Angry Men," was scheduled to join Petersen in speaking in the late-morning ceremony in front of the famed Musso & Frank restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard.

"Billy Petersen created, in Gil Grissom, a man of such brilliance and curiosity that it stimulated curiosity in all of us who watched him," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar said in a statement.

"Because Billy can say more with a look than most actors can with an entire monologue, Grissom's humanity always shined, whether he was bringing closure to a victim's family, sharing a meal with a bug, or an intimate moment with Sara Sidle.

"From the moment he picked up his crime scene kit, Billy didn't just play Grissom, he was Grissom. And that is the magic of Billy Petersen."

Born Feb. 21, 1953, in Evanston, Ill., Petersen discovered acting while attending Idaho State University on a football scholarship. He left school in 1974 with his wife, Joanne, and followed a drama professor to Spain's Basque Country, where he studied as a Shakespearean actor.

Petersen has an extensive list of movie, television and stage credits. He appeared in the films "To Live and Die in L.A.," "Manhunter," "Cousins," "Young Guns II," "Fear" and "The Contender." His television credits include the mini-series "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" and "Return to Lonesome Dove" and the made-for-television movies "12 Angry Men" and "The Rat Pack."

Petersen made his Broadway debut in the 1996 revival of Tennessee Williams' "The Night of the Iguana." He has appeared in regional stage productions of "A Dublin Carol," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "The Time of Your Life," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Fool for Love" and "Speed-the-Plow."

Petersen left "CSI" last year after 8 1/2 seasons, in part to concentrate more on the theater, although he remains one of its executive producers.