Los Angeles, Aug 22 (IANS): Late actor Chadwick Boseman was honored by his wife Simone Leeward and "Black-ish" actor Anthony Anderson during the Stand Up to Cancer fundraising telethon event.

Intended to celebrate thirteen years of cancer research, the event, which was held on Saturday, included performances and appearances from renowned names in Hollywood such as Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Cecily Strong, Jennifer Garner, Ed Helms and Tony Hale, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

"Many of us were devastated to learn of Chadwick Boseman's tragic passing after he privately grappled with cancer for several years," Anderson said during the show.

"The world lost an incredible artist and a true hero. But before he was a public figure, he was a person like you or me, a son, a brother, uncle, cousin, friend, colleague, husband. Many of us are all too familiar with the fracture a dearly loved one's passing leaves in the lives of those who love them."

He introduced Boseman's wife Simone, who performed "I'll Be Seeing You", a song about living with the reality of loss.

Boseman passed away last year in August due to colon cancer. He was 43.

The 2021 Stand Up to Cancer telethon was co-hosted by Anderson, Ken Jeong and his wife, physician Tran Ho, who shared the story of her own breast cancer diagnosis, and Sofia Vergara.

Performers included Stevie Wonder, Common and Brittany Howard, the latter of whom dedicated her performance to her late sister Jaime.

Matthew McConaughey made an appearance and shared a personal story of losing a friend and mentor to cancer, tagging it as "this damned disease".