Author John Steinbeck, actress Elizabeth Taylor, comedian Milton Berle and Justice Earl Warren were among the 13 inductees officially welcomed Wednesday in the California Hall of Fame, class of 2007.

The ceremony was presided over by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver (who in fact conceived the project) Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts, in Sacramento, CA.

This year’s inductees were the following “legends, leaders and trailblazers” that had a powerful impact on California: Ansel Adams, Milton Berle, Steve Jobs, Willie Mays, Robert Mondavi, Rita Moreno, Jackie Robinson, Jonas Salk, Elizabeth Taylor, Earl Warren, John Wayne and Tiger Woods.

Of these, only John Steinbeck, author of classic novels such as “The Grapes of Wrath,” “East of Eden”; Steve Jobs, 52, co-founder of Apple Inc.; photographer Ansel Adams; golf superstar Tiger Woods and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren are natives of California.

Schwarzenegger and Shriver confessed choosing honorees for the Hall of Fame was not an easy task. “It is very, very hard because we have so many great talents in California,” the governor was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Comedian Milton Berle was born in New York and was among the first stars of television in the 1940s; Elizabeth Taylor was born in England and became a Hollywood legend; renowned Western film actor John Wayne was a native of Iowa, while baseball player Willie Mays hails from Alabama.

Winemaker Robert Mondavi was born in Minnesota but moved to California with his family and eventually established the innovative Robert Mondavi Winery in the 1960s; actress Rita Moreno, one of the select few actresses to have won all four of the most prestigious awards in show business – Academy Award, Emmy, Grammy and Tony - is a native of Puerto Rico; New York-born Jonas Salt invented the first vaccine against polio, while Jackie Robinson, the first African-American major league baseball player of the modern era, is originally from Georgia.

A year-long exhibit will highlight the achievements of the new Hall of Fame members and display personal objects belonging t the honorees. Visitors will be able to admire a well-worn pair of Wayne’s boots as well as a saddle he used in several Westerns; Taylor’s two Academy Awards; Moreno’s four prestigious awards; Adam’s favorite camera and an iconic photograph of Half Dome, in Yosemite National Park; Woods’ golf clubs, and others.

The California Hall of Fame was inaugurated last year with the induction of Ronald Reagan, Cesar Chavez, Walt Disney, Clint Eastwood, Billie Jean King, Clint Eastwood, Frank Gehry, David D. Ho, M.D., Amelia Earhart, John Muir, Sally K. Ride, Ph.D., Alice Walker and the Hearst and Packard Families.

Woods, Mays, Moreno, Mondavi and Jobs were among the honorees who accepted their Spirit of California medals in person at the event Wednesday. Family members were present to receive the medals for posthumous inductees Berle, Steinbeck, Warren, Wayne, Salk, Robinson, and Adams.

Taylor could not be present due to poor health.