Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis has apologized for omitting Farrah Fawcett, Bea Arthur, Gene Barry and anyone else who didn’t make Sunday night’s Oscar show In Memoriam segment. Davis told AP that after much discussion by the committee, Fawcett and Barry were both omitted. Davis and his colleagues thought that while the two actors appeared in movies, they were better known for their “remarkable television work” and would be more appropriately honored by the television academy at the Emmy Awards. When asked why Michael Jackson was included when actors were left out, Davis, who has helped assemble the montage since 1993, explained that Jackson had appeared in a popular theatrical film recently. “Think of all the blogging we would have gotten if we had left him out!” he said. Still, he told AP he understands the hurt feelings. “There’s nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all,” Davis said. “They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we’re sorry for it.” – Ann Oldenburg
The left out Henry Gibson too, and he was the star of one of a very important film nominated for Best Picture: Nashville.
It really is silly. Maurice Jarre was also not on the list (that I saw) and he wrote some of the best film music of all time, including getting an Oscar for Doctor Zhivago.