Australia honors Oscar winners with stamps

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MELBOURNE, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Postage stamps featuring the pictures of four Australian Oscar winners went on sale Thursday, the Australia Post announced.

"Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Geoffrey Rush are already household names," Australia Post Managing Director Graeme John said in a statement. "These four outstanding Australians have captured the imagination of millions of people around the world with their award-winning performances."

The actors are to be honored at various Australia Day events and each will be presented with 24-carat gold replicas of their 55-cent stamps, the postal service said in a release.

"I have a vested interest in Australia. I want my children to live here at certain times of their life and see how wonderful it is. It would be lovely for them to lick a stamp, put it on an envelope and say 'that's my mum,'" Kidman, who was born in the United States, but raised in Australia, said.

"I am utterly, deeply, humbled and chuffed by the fact that I'm a stamp. I'm going to be licked by millions of Australians and I can't wait. It is also recognizing the value of the arts in Australia. It brings it into general consumption and if I'm part of that, I feel intensely proud," Blanchett added.

Rush said he was delighted about being on a stamp, having grown up in the 1950s and '60s when "the only person on a stamp was the Queen.

"It's a classy thing to know you're on security paper," he quipped.