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Oscars snub for Farrah Fawcett wasn’t an oversight

Organisers behind the Academy Awards are refusing to apologise for leaving out Farrah Fawcett from its In Memoriam segment.

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Organisers behind the Academy Awards are refusing to apologise for leaving out Farrah Fawcett from its In Memoriam segment this year.

“I would not say that it was an oversight,” Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, told E! News. “No matter how carefully and how conscientiously people address who is included, there are people who just simply can’t be.

“In any given year there will always be some people that other people think should have been included and that there’s more justification for one person versus another,” says Unger. “It is impossible to include everybody.”

Joining Fawcett in the ‘snubbed’ ranks was actress Bea Arthur.

While both have been popular in other mediums including television and theatre, they have also made their share of feature films. Fawcett even received a Golden Globe nomination for her work in Extremities (pictured). She also appeared in Logan’s Run, The Cannonball Run, and The Apology.

“We were disappointed that she was not included,” Ryan O’Neal said through publicist Arnold Robinson.

Meanwhile others who did appear in the annual montage included Michael Jackson, whose biggest acting role in film was probably 1978’s The Wiz -although his compositions have obviously been included on a myriad of soundtracks.

Bea Arthur, who died last April, appeared in the feature films of Mame, Lovers and Other Strangers, Enemies of Laughter and For Better or Worse.

“Every year there are many difficult decisions that have to be made and not everybody who passed during the year can be included,” says Unger. “That’s the unfortunate reality.”

Source: EOnline

25 Responses

  2. The “In Memorium” section of the Oscars when they were first introduced in the mid 90s were often the highlight of the show–in recent years, it has been a disaster (notice the start of the segment featuring Patrick Swayze was misdirected terribly)

    I think the Academy’s attempt to have film clips accompaning every person is very confusing but I do think it is right that people like publicists and film trade people are mentioned in this section as most are legends themselves — Army Archerd who was shown very briefly, was the chief entertainment reporter for Daily Variety in Hollywood for 60 years, practically to the day he died — he was one of the main influences in entertainment news reporting (the Walter Cronkite of entertainment reporting? Not quite, but not far off it)

    I read during the week that the producers traditionally start with 100 names and whittle them down to 30 to fill that 4 minute spot — what they should do would be to have still photographs and names and scan through them: people probably would complain that they only had 5 seconds on screen, but at least this way no one can say they weren’t included.

    I wasn’t fussed that Farrah and Bea were not included — most award shows these days have their own ‘In Memorium’ section and both ladies would have been thoroughly represented in the section featured on the Emmy Awards telecast, and most likely Bea would have had her own segment on the Tony Awards, considering her work in the original Broadway productions of “Fiddler On The Roof” and “Mame”.

  3. David I could not agree more – I bought their argument right up until you reminded me that Michael Jackson appeared – and Farrah contributed to film far more extensively than he ever did. Politics? Who knows.

  5. Bea Arthur & Farrah Fawcett i would consider actors.Michael Jackson not.Enough blady Michael Jackson already…if i hear Thriller once more…….

  6. @Patrick, This Wiz hasn’t been Michael’s only contribution to cinema. He also appeared in Moonwalker, Ghosts and Captain EO. Not to mention a small role as Agent M in Men in Black 2.

    Saying that though, it is a little puzzling why Bea and Farrah didn’t appear.

  8. You either remember everyone or no one. If they cut out the embarrassing segment where actors praised the nominees in the best actor/actress categories before the announcement there would have been plenty of time to do the right thing. Poor Farrah died on the same day as MJ and was lost in the subsequent hysteria and now at the Academy Awards he takes preference again.

  9. So stop watching already!

    We have a bunch of highly overpaid people who spend the first three months of each year partying and congratulating each other and expect us to watch. Ugh!

  10. It’s bizarre why Farrah and Bea weren’t included as whilst they are primarily known for their TV roles, did act in several movies between them.

    Farrah especially drew praise for her film roles in the 80’s and should have been in the roll call.

    To include Michael Jackson on the basis of appearing in One film – The Wiz – was a joke. Yes his songs were in many films but so what? The memorial was meant to be for those who made a significant contribution to cinema.

    The Academy dropped the ball on this one for sure.

  11. Honestly I didn’t notice that either wasn’t included, however I did wonder why MJ was at the time, and on reflection it would have been appropriate to have included them!

  12. Leslie Unger would be the normal spin merchant wheeled out to say anything other than the obvious ‘Yes we messed up and were sorry’

  13. I think it’s a disgrace. Arthur, Fawcett and O’Bannon (particularly)’s contributions to film were just as agreat as Michael Jackson’s. It’s absolutely outrageous.

  16. They included a Publicist, of all things. I’ve never seen them include anything from that totem pole before, it’s always been limited to actors, directors, producers, and composers.

  17. Quote: i don’t have a problem with it. Farrah was never a major film star or even a minor one:Quote.

    Yeah right,Like michael jackson was.

  18. It’s bad they were left out and Jackson put in, just wrong IMO.

    Yes I know they need to draw a line but I’m sure at least half the people included would not be known by the average person on the street where as Bea and Farrah are house hold names.

  19. I agree with the producers. Including Bea and Farrah in the broadcast would have extended the show by 20 seconds. How obscene if the Oscars had been overly long.

  23. I don’t have a problem with it. Farrah was never a major film star or even a minor one, really. She is more associated with television, so should be honoured during the Golden Globes or Emmys.

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