As usual, the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars has caused a trouble over who they omitted.
The most egregious error was Carol Channing. An actual past Oscar nominee, she was also a beloved entertainer. When she died, there was a real outpouring of love for her. This is where the show was tone deaf.
Also not included: the great John Mahoney, famous for “Frasier” on TV, but a movie actor with a substantial resume including “Moonstruck.”
The Academy also snubbed Sondra Locke, Verne Troyer, and Lee Ermey. Not nice. They also left out Mark Urman, who was so important for producing and distributing good films and died recently at age 66.
The worst, though, was Stanley Donen. Granted, he just died a few days ago, but in this digital age how hard could it be to drop a slide into the montage? He made “Singin’ in the Rain,” the greatest movie musical.
It also would have been nice to use the music of Michel Legrand with the slides.
I’m sure there were others left in the cold. Apparently, getting onto that list requires as much campaigning as getting an Oscar. One relative of someone who made the final cut told me he had to spend quite a bit of time lobbying the Academy, not to mention money on clip reels to make his point.
