Some of Hollywood’s most beloved stars didn’t get the tribute they deserved last night.
The “In Memoriam” section of the Academy Awards is always one that is watched like a hawk as for every year someone is forgotten, left out, or just who? This year was no different as a handful of artists and talent were left out. Some you may know better than others.
When I first saw John Travolta pop onto the stage, couple of things popped into my mind and out of my mouth. “he looks good without his hair”, “Are we going to do Adele Dezeem again this year?”, “Where’s your boyfriend?” … and then I remembered Olivia and felt like crap. He was there to do the “In Memoriam” introduction and Olivia Newton-John was going to be a part of that, let alone the first image. The Instinct Magazine family has very personal ties to Olivia so we were all a mess, and Travolta’s choking up at mentioning “Hopelessly Devoted to You” didn’t help. It got to us too, so much that some of us even missed her mention at the very beginning as we were thinking it was all going to be in alphabetical order. But most of us saw her mention, was saddened once again, and were messes all around.
We did gather ourselves together to see the others mentioned, James Caan, Irene Cara, Burt Bacharach, Raquel Welch, Angela Lansbury, Nichelle Nichols, Ray Liotta, and more.
Did they fit everyone in? Was there enough time to cover everyone? Among those who didn’t make the video were recently deceased actors Tom Sizemore and Robert Blake, and Paul Sorvino. Another absent was 32-year-old actress Charlbi Dean, who died in August. Dean’s final film, Triangle of Sadness, was nominated for three awards at the 2023 Oscars, including Best Picture. And then there is this comment left on the ABC YouTube channel post that brought to light another missing name:
Anne Celeste Heche was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She came to recognition portraying Vicky Hudson and Marley Love in the soap opera Another World (1964), which won her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She came to mainstream prominence in the late 1990s with roles in the crime drama film Donnie Brasco (1997), the disaster film Volcano (1997), the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), the action comedy film Six Days Seven Nights (1998), and the drama-thriller film Return to Paradise (1998).
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Bonitao
Leslie Jordan’s “mini” bio is not so mini over at IMDb as it is almost a page long. Head over there to read the whole thing and truly learn what a talented and busy man he was.
For such a diminutive (4′ 11″) frame, character actor Leslie (Allen) Jordan had a tall talent for scene-stealing. Hailing from the South, as his dead-giveaway drawl quickly exposed, he was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 29, 1955, and raised in a highly conservative, deeply religious atmosphere in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father, a Lieutenant Colonel with the Army, was killed in a plane crash when he was only 11. (read more here)
They edited the Oscars this year to showcase all 23 categories and broadcast all of the award ceremonies as part of the televised show. Looks like they will need to tweak the “In Memoriam” section a little more as they always do.