According to People Online, Farrah Fawcett's family, friends, and fans have received "an apology" from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis, who reportedly was responsible for the inclusions and omissions in the "In Memoriam" segment of Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. As previously mentioned in this blog and elsewhere, Fawcett was left out of the tribute.
Among those criticizing the omission were Roger Ebert, Jane Fonda, and Academy Award-winner Tatum O'Neal, whose father Ryan O'Neal had been Fawcett's companion. On Tuesday, Tatum O'Neal issued a statement that said:
"On behalf of myself, my father Ryan O’Neal and my entire family, we are deeply saddened that a [sic] truly beautiful and talented actress Farrah Fawcett was not included in the memorial montage during the 82nd Academy Awards. We are bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons. Beautiful, talented Farrah will never be forgotten by her family and amazing fans."
Fawcett appeared in more than a dozen films, including the 1986 drama Extremities, for which she was touted as a potential Oscar contender. Among those also omitted from the "In Memoriam" segment were Gene Barry, the star of the 1953 science-fiction classic War of the Worlds; 1949 Best Actor nominee Richard Todd, who appeared in more than fifty films; and Bea Arthur, chiefly a television star who had a supporting role in the 1974 musical Mame.
Davis explained the inclusion of Michael Jackson, a talent that is hardly associated with the film world, by saying that Jackson was the star of the successful documentary This Is It. Tough luck for Fawcett that her biggest film hit came out more than twenty years ago, and for Gene Barry and Richard Todd that their biggest film hits came out more than five decades ago.
And before any crazy fan accuses me of being anti-Michael Jackson, that's not the case at all. I totally agree that it would have been unthinkable not to include Jackson, even though his film work was tangential to his professional success. But since he was in, Fawcett, Todd, and Barry should have been in as well.
I will make a point of not watching the Academy Awards next year. These people are a bunch of narcissists congratulating each other, that's all they are. There is very little entertainment value in that show. I prefer the "Grammy" telecast. At least they put on a show. They have singing and dancing. The Oscars are so dull. The "In Memorium" segment with James Taylor's singing was the only part I recorded on my DVR it was the only part even worth watching. To all the talent who left us, may you R.I.P.
I wonder if they made a point to blame MJ's inclusion in the Memorial as the reason to exclude Farrah so they could drum up a controversy? They did a good job, people were all over the web attacking MJ last week like he was the one at fault. The Academy acted in a despicable manner in the way they handled this situation. Each person in the tribute only got 4 seconds of air time. They could have easily included her. They left her out to stir up a controversy. MJ was a lightning rod for controversy so they blamed him. I noticed that they included a journalist from "Variety" no one ever heard of and they didn't blame that guy. They did it on purpose 4 seconds of air time is nothing in a 3 and a half hour broadcast.
Does anyone else wonder why they feel they have to put a time limit or death limit on the "In Memorium" segement of their award show when there is so much more that can be kept out of the show? Some years may have fewer entries and require shorter time and some years more. To exclude anyone previously nominated or who has had a career in film spanning more then a decade because they aren't relevant to what they seem to think is a 30 year old and younger viewing audience is just dumb and rude. Young people need history of film and need to know about the pioneers of film making.
Perhaps they might do a better job like they used to in putting together these segments by only focusing on the screen and not on a known artist coming out to perform a live song.
Thanks for writing.
Just please note that Ricardo Montalban was included in the 2009 Oscar's "In Memoriam" segment.
The choice of Leslie Unger to succeed John Pavlik may NOT have been a great choice. The less than thoughtful comments she made concerning the omission of Farah Fawcett, Bea Arthur and Ricardo Montalban was sad and disheartening. The Academy owes the friends and families A REAL APOLOGY.
Of course… we understand that all members of the Academy lost in 2009, might be able to be included, but to included Michael Jackson (no disrespect) and not include Farah is absurd!
I felt sad that her loss was overshadowed by the attention given the untimely loss of Mr. Jackson, and NOW a CONCIOUS decision to do this again, is terrible. Shorten some of the dance acts and remove some of the lousy jokes, and there would be plenty of time to show the proper respect to those the industry lost during the year. Shame on you Ms Unger!!!