Beiruting News

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet was honored with a star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday -- hours after an earthquake jolted Tinseltown awake.

The "Titanic" star joked that the pre-dawn 4.4 magnitude quake, which was felt strongly across the Los Angeles area, occurred just as she was getting ready with a breast pump for her three-month old son.

"I had no idea that this was going to be such a well attended event," she said, referring to the quake as she accepted the honor on Hollywood Boulevard, noting that the shaker "frightened me quite a lot actually."

The 38-year-old Brit said she headed for a nearby doorway, said to be a safe place in the event of a quake, "with my breast pump in my hand".

Winslet had a baby boy in December with new husband Ned RocknRoll. She already has a daughter, Mia Honey, with first husband Jim Threapleton and a son, Joe Alfie, with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes.

Winslet has been nominated six times for Oscars, including for her role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in 1998's "Titanic," finally winning in 2009 for playing a Nazi concentration camp guard in "The Reader."

At Monday's Hollywood ceremony, local councillor Mitch O'Farrell also quipped about the quake, saying: "The ground in Los Angeles literally shook in anticipation of Kate Winslet's star today.

The British actress's "Titanic" cast-mate Kathy Bates meanwhile made a more earthy joke, about the famous stars which honor generations of celebrities along a stretch of tourist-thronged Hollywood sidewalk.

"You deserve to have stars strewn at your feet," she said.

"Even though stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sometimes get a little dirty with a little poo or whatever, what will last is your wonderful beautiful films, characters that you've played that have stolen our hearts.

"Nobody can ever poo on those."