Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Emmys Snub In Memoriam: John McMartin, Marjorie Lord, Plus They Co-Opt Music Greats Like Prince, Bowie, Etc

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As usual the In Memoriam section of the Emmy Awards was a big friggin’ mess.

Omitted were John McMartin, Marjorie Lord, and about half a dozen actual TV stars.

But the Emmys included Prince, David Bowie, Natalie Cole and Merle Haggard– music stars who belong in the Grammy In Memoriam. Ridiculous.

They also stretched to include Alan Rickman, who had no TV career at all and Gene Wilder, who had a very minuscule one. They belong at the Oscars. They were film stars.

Also missing from the Emmy In Memoriam: Beth Howland and Marvin Kaplan, each from the “Alice” TV show among others, and Jack Riley from “Newhart.”

I felt really bad for John McMartin– his imdb is a history of TV. And Marjorie Lord played Danny Thomas’s wife in a classic TV show. At least the Emmys didn’t forget Ann Morgan Guilbert. But, really. Prince?

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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