LOS ANGELES — The 85th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade, the largest Christmas celebration in America, announces that Olivia Newton-John has been named the Grand Marshal for this year’s landmark anniversary event. Presented and produced by Associated Television International, the live parade, taped for network television, will take place on Hollywood Boulevard on Sunday, November 27 at 5:00 p.m. The parade’s telecast will be hosted by Erik Estrada, Laura McKenzie, Dean Cain and Montel Williams, with special co-hosts Elizabeth Stanton and Garrett Clayton. The event will include live musical performances (to be announced) that will take place on two stages; benefiting The Marine Toys For Tots Foundation.
The 85th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade will premiere as a two-hour special on The CW Network on December 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, repeating on the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel (airdates TBA). The parade will also air to more than one million American servicemen and women worldwide on American Forces Network. A true Hollywood yearly tradition, the parade attracts more than one million in attendance each year, with larger than life inflatable character balloons and celebrity filled cars making the much heralded trek down the over three mile parade route.
Says Jim Romanovich, President of Associated Television International, “One of the greatest holiday traditions of all time is celebrating 85 years, and we are once again, ready to make this the biggest and best Christmas parade of the year. Being that this is the 85th anniversary, we are bringing back former Grand Marshals to help celebrate the night. The Hollywood Christmas Parade is loved by many millions of families each year. We are thrilled that both The CW and our good friends at Hallmark are back as our television partners. We are honored to also be once again partnered with Toys for Tots. The overwhelmingly generous support of our media partners The CW, Hallmark, KOST, Entertainment Tonight, Variety, Radio Disney and so many more, continues to help provide the necessary awareness tools for the Marine Toys for Tots program which is essential in their providing gifts to less fortunate children everywhere.”
About Olivia Newton-John: With a career spanning more than five decades, and more than 100 million albums sold, Olivia’s successes include four Grammy, numerous Country Music, American Music, Billboard and People’s Choice Awards, an Emmy Award, 10 #1 hits and more than 15 Top 10 singles. She recently scored another #1 hit, this time on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, with “You Have to Believe,” a duet with her daughter Chloe Lattanzi. In 1978, her co-starring role with John Travolta in Grease catapulted Olivia into super-stardom and to date remains the most successful movie musical of all time.
Throughout her career, Olivia has served as Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Environment Programme, was the co-founder of Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (now Healthy Child, Healthy World) and, in 1992 she created National Tree Day in Australia, which is responsible for planting more than 10 million trees. She and her husband “Amazon John” Easterling serving on the board of the ACEER Organization (ACEER.org). Most recently she co-founded One Tree Per Child.
In 1992, Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her personal triumph against cancer led her to announce her partnership with the Austin Health and the creation of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre (ONJCWRC) in her hometown of Melbourne, Australia. After nearly 10 years of fundraising close to $200 million, the ONJCWRC opened its doors in 2012. The Centre provides a comprehensive range of services and facilities for cancer treatment, education, training and research as well as a dedicated wellness center (oliviaappeal.com). In 2014, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, a not-for-profit medical research institute within the Centre was launched. Olivia also launched the Liv Aid®, a breast self-examination aid that assists women to exercise breast self-exams correctly. She is now cancer free, and has become a passionate advocate in creating awareness for early detection and encouraging women to take a more active role in their breast health.
Additional talent for the 85th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade will be announced.