Anton Yelchin Statue Unveiled At Actor’s Grave In Remembrance

A statue of the late actor Anton Yelchin was unveiled at a service in Los Angeles honoring his life.

ANTON YELCHIN STATUE UNVEILED

The Star Trek actor was 27 when he died in June 2016. His car rolled down his driveway and pinned him against his gate, killing him. The car model had an issue with its gears and was later recalled. Car company Fiat Chrysler faced a class action lawsuit following the accident.

Yelchin was born in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg) to figure skaters Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin. They erected the statue at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery where their son is buried.

Yelchin’s Star Trek co-stars attended the unveiling and paid their respects. “It is a bittersweet moment, because we’re here for Anton, and he’s not here with us,” said Zoe Saldana, who plays Uhura in the film franchise reboot, during the service. “But, it alleviates my heart knowing that we’ll keep him alive. We’re going to keep remembering him in the hopes that by practicing all the things he believed in and remembering all the love that he gave us, and all the joy he gave us, we’re able to just keep him here with us.”

Others in attendance were J.J. Abrams, Simon Pegg, Jon Voight, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Lawrence. Yelchin played Pavel Chekov in the Abrams-helmed productions. A mural for the actor was also created and displayed from an earlier Star Trek convention at the ceremony.