Corey Haim left out of this year's Oscar tribute
Putting together the “In Memoriam” tribute for the Academy Awards “is the single most troubling element of the Oscar show every year, because more people die each year than can possibly be included in that segment,” Bruce Davis, executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences told the Associated Press last year in a story on how the segment is produced.
This year's omission that sent the Internet abuzz: Corey Haim, a teen idol from the 1980s who starred in “License to Drive” and “The Lost Boys.” Haim, who struggled with drug addiction, died last March at 38.
Among the 30 or so who made the cut: Dennis Hopper, Lynn Redgrave, Blake Edwards, Tony Curtis, Jill Clayburgh, Leslie Nielsen and Lena Horne, the latter of whom was given special recognition by actress Halle Berry.
The most glaring omissions from last year’s Oscar tribute: Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur.
Trimming the list of names for the segment “gets close to agonizing by the end,” Davis said in the AP story. “You are dropping people who the public knows. It’s just not comfortable.”
-- Valerie J. Nelson
Photo: Corey Haim at a "Lost Boys" reunion in 2008 at the Viper Room in West Hollywood. Credit: Nathan Nowack /Associated Press
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Well, the biggest gaff was leaving Dorothy McGuire out a few years ago! She was a huge, major star in her day and worked late in life as well.
Corey Haim? Are you serious?!
Posted by: Gary Butcher Jr | 03/01/2011 at 02:59 PM
""Trimming the list of names for the segment “gets close to agonizing by the end,” Davis said in the AP story. “You are dropping people who the public knows. It’s just not comfortable.”"
Don't give us that crud! The In Memoriam is the Hollywood elitists' way of conferring legitimacy. To the AMPAS (and, to be frank, virtually everyone else in the busness) Haim was a train wreck, not an artist, and, hence, it would have been beneath them to treat Haim as an artist by including him in the In Memoriam.
If it's any consolation, the 1997 In Memoriam left out Greer Garson -- an Oscar winner!
Posted by: Lisa | 03/01/2011 at 03:29 PM
I didn't see this year's show but I watched last year's segment on youtube and noticed that by the time Demi Moore got done talking and when James Taylor began to sing, almost 1.20 had elapsed. My advice to those responsible is to leave out the celebrities and play some nice and simple background music. That extra 1.20 could've been used to honor some of those that weren't.
Posted by: Charles | 03/01/2011 at 06:47 PM
Cinematographer, Don Peterman A.S.C. was not included in this years tribute, and I believe his body of work including: "Splash, Men In Black, Flashdance, Cocoon, Get Shorty" speaks for itself! How hard could it be to put up a photo and font of someone's name?
Posted by: Hollywoodland | 03/02/2011 at 04:06 AM
Leaving any actor out is just bulls%#t. The program is so long now with other catagories that most people dont care about. How much time would it really take to put his picture along with others left out.
Others are bagging on Kirk Douglas. Really? Let the man have some fun before he passes. Better than the media shoving Lady Whore or the little gay kid down our throats.
Posted by: Mark | 03/02/2011 at 06:14 AM
They can never get it right! The year Dorothy McGuire was left out (as were many others) they had a montage that showed the same people TWICE!! This year I noticed that were many fringe people shown - publicists, agents etc.... who cares about them.
When the singing ended and the still was of Lena Horne without a name tag, I didn't realize who she was. I think of her as a singer, not a major film star...was it necessary that she get a special mention at the end?
Posted by: Paula | 03/02/2011 at 07:44 AM
Yeah, well they also left out Peter Graves, who although remembered for his TV work ("Mission: Impossible," "Fury") also made many feature films ("Airplane"). He was beloved by many and sad to see his ommission, but I guess sometimes it's difficult for choices to be made. He will be missed. A fine gentleman.
Posted by: kindlady1 | 03/02/2011 at 08:50 AM
Due respect to Corey Haim, who was, like it or not, a significant film actor in the eighties (and if you start sanctimoniously eliminating people for drug abuse from "industry" tributes you're gonna lose a LOT of folks, as recent news makes clear) but this year's appallingly disrespectful travesty of a "tribute" left out actors and actresses with many decades of important work in indiputably classic films including, jaw-droppingly:
Peter Graves (just SOME of whose classic films include "Stalag 17, " "Night of the Hunter," "Airplane")
Betty Garrett ("On the Town," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame")
Kathryn Grayson ("Show Boat," "Anchors Aweigh," "Kiss Me Kate")
Jean Simmons ("Guys and Dolls," "Elmer Gantry," "Spartacus," "Hamlet,"
"Great Expectations," "Black Narcissus")
Vonetta McGee ("Blacula," "The Eiger Sanction")
Harold Gould ("The Sting," "Love and Death," "Freaky Friday")
The Oscars used to be produced by people who respected movies and thus was a part of our culture. Now I don't know who is making the decisions about who gets tossed on the heap, regardless of their accomplishments, but it's clearly cinematic illiterates who have no respect for those who built the industry that hands them a fat living; people whose idea of educating themselves comprises "tweeting" and Facebook. This is the absolute definition of a disgrace and shows how degraded and conscience-less the "Academy" has become. Fortunately this display of contempt by ignorant cowards whose idea of a selection process is determined by measuring the length of a Celine Dion song has had one salutary effect: it has completely removed any notion in my mind as to whether there will ever be any point in watching this institutionalized insult to its art. These contemptible creeps have at least given me another free afternoon in my life, as well as any other true movie lover.
Posted by: L.A. Voter | 03/02/2011 at 09:01 AM
Sadly, it has become the Academy of The Hollywood Left. The business continues its downward spiral, continues to promote and aggrandize non-talents, continues to embarrass its once proud legacy. Let's take all of the Left-wing politics and kooks out of the process and restore the town to what it once was-- a business that represented and entertained the MAJORITY of of thoughtful, caring Americans with true American stars...
Posted by: michael g | 03/02/2011 at 11:55 AM
Didn't Jennifer Jones pass away last year as well? She was a very big star in her day.
Posted by: KC | 03/02/2011 at 02:45 PM
@L.A. Voter - They managed (somehow) to include Jean Simmons last year.
Posted by: Lisa | 03/02/2011 at 04:27 PM
KC, Jennifer Jones died Dec. 17, 2009. Here's a link to her obituary:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jennifer-jones18-2009dec18,0,1884574.story?page=1
Posted by: Claire Noland | 03/02/2011 at 04:31 PM
@L.A. Voter - They also managed (somehow) to include Kathryn Grayson last year. Will wonders ever cease?
I suspect Betty Garrett was left out because her husband, Larry Parks, "named names" before the HUAC. Forget that it was Hollywood - not Joe McCarthy - that instituted the blacklist, the elitists need to perpetuate the myth of their "victimization" at all costs, the facts be damned!
Posted by: Lisa | 03/02/2011 at 04:39 PM
Isn't the Oscar tribute meant for those who made a significant contribution to movies? If so, Corey Haim will just have to rest in peace.
Posted by: Ken | 03/03/2011 at 07:56 AM
No time? Really? Pick one of the following:
Cut one monologue.
Cut one pre-taped segment.
Cut one musical performance.
There, you've made enough time to show some respect to the dead. You know something's wrong when Peter Graves can't even get a mention.
Posted by: Bill D. | 03/03/2011 at 10:56 AM
You people are unbelievable. You click on an article about Corey Haim being left out of the tribute and then proceed to slam his acting career in the comment section. Let me tell you something. I am 29. I grew up watching Corey Haim's movies. They are EVERY BIT as important as the others that all of you on your high horses listed. In his roles, he was hilarious. I can watch License to Drive right now and it makes me laugh just as hard as I did when the movie was released. The Lost Boys is considered the original teen vampire movie, and is damn good quality. Also, till this day people still LOVE the movie Lucas. He deserved to be included in the tribute. This as*h#le Ken who I'm sure thought he was really clever writing in a roundabout way that Corey didn't deserve to be in the memoriam anyway, is what's wrong with this world today. Who is he to decide what a significant contribution is?
Posted by: Holly | 03/03/2011 at 10:59 AM
Corey Haim was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, which is a requirement for all working professional actors. Maybe Haim never qualified for an Academy Award nomination, but he was still a big movie star of his time, no more or less than others that have have gone before him. To ignore his contribution, however small, is a slap in the face to all aspiring actors and, in particular, to members of SAG.
Posted by: Howard | 03/03/2011 at 11:03 AM
michael g-- bla bla bla left liberal rant bla bla bla. Do you even have a point here or are the meds just not working anymore?
Posted by: David | 03/03/2011 at 12:58 PM
Corey Haim should have been honored!!!
Those idiots at the oscars “claim” they did not have the time to honor everyone. They sure made certain that they had the time to honor Leni Riefenstahl, a Nazi filmmaker in their memoriam, back in 2004. Damn shame!!! They are worse than I had thought : (
Posted by: CIH Fan | 03/03/2011 at 03:17 PM
It makes no sense to me why they can't just include ALL noteworthy celebrities--and trim some of the ridiculous, unnecessary, not at all enjoyable nonsense instead.
Every year the show drones on and on, with stupid "entertainment segments" highlighting bad dancing/singing/whatever. Lose those! And, like magic, there you go, you'd have plenty of time to add a few more obituaries.
Posted by: SmartAssProducts.com | 03/03/2011 at 04:16 PM
The montage should be for film. Peter was in a lot of films, but was more famous for TV, so I can kind of see that omission. Same with Betty Garrett - more noted for TV and I can't imagine that young studio execs would even know who she was, let alone her husband. I think some of the technical people should be in a reel during the technical awards ceremony they have separately. Or maybe split screen for the agents and publicists who are Academy members.
One would think that from all the furor from the montage would tell them that it is a very popular piece. How many calls and e-mails do you 'spose they got demanding more goofy comic pieces with Franco and Hathaway?
Posted by: Paula | 03/04/2011 at 07:40 AM
Lisa - " the facts be damned " indeed. You might want to check yours. Betty Garrett died this year and should be included in next year's ceremony. However, you are free to see elitists conspiracies where there are none.
Posted by: Big Al | 03/04/2011 at 02:42 PM
I am upset at the oscars again this year! names left off the in memory! NOT ONLY DID THEY LEAVE OUT COREY HAIM, BUT THEY ALSO LEFT OUT BETTY GARRETT, ARON KINCAID, BARBARA BILLINGSLEY, RUE MCCLANAHAN, EDDIE FISHER, GLEN SHADIX, HAROLD GOULD, JOHNNY SHEFFIELD, SIMON MACCOKINDALE, TOM BOSLEY, MEINHARDT RAABE, GARY COLEMAN, ILENE WOODS, DOROTHY PROVINE, CAMMIE KING, NEVA PATTERSON, FESS PARKER, BRUCE GORDON, JILL HAWORTH, MARGOT STEVENSON :0(
Posted by: JAIME VERMEULEN | 03/07/2011 at 02:11 AM
AND AS FAR AS BETTY GARRETT DYING THIS YEAR SHE PASSED AWAY FEB 12 OF THIS YEAR WELL AHEAD OF THE OSCARS COMING ON SO THEY SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED BETTY GARRETT TOO!
Posted by: JAIME VERMEULEN | 03/07/2011 at 02:14 AM
They should produce a longer, more comprehensive tribute and post it on the Web. Not that people won't still be irate that certain individuals were overlooked, but it's something.
Posted by: CFehlinger | 03/08/2011 at 01:23 PM