Game show hostess honored for turning letters and heads

LOS ANGELES -- "Wheel of Fortune" personality Vanna White revealed letters spelling out her name on Thursday when she received her very own star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

"I remember my parents telling me, at the age of 10, 'You can do anything you want,'" White, 49, said to the crowd. Present at the ceremony were her father, "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek, her show's host Pat Sajak and its creator Merv Griffin.

"I picked her because she knew the whole alphabet," Griffin said somewhat facetiously. "She is America's sweetheart."

That's a vote of confidence White didn't get from Sajak, who admitted in a 2000 interview that he was trying to talk Griffin into casting another woman because she was "more polished." Since 1982, White has acted as Sajak's assistant, turning letters -- and in more recent years, pressing the letters' frames -- to build commonly used phrases.

White studied to be a model and then pursued acting. Although she's appeared in a handful of TV movies and theatrical films, she's mainly lived off her "Wheel of Fortune" fame, appearing as herself for numerous guest appearances on TV series such as "The A-Team," "227," "L.A. Law," "Just Shoot Me" and "The King of Queens."