On Sunday night, the Oscars’ traditional “In Memoriam” segment paid tribute to the celebrities we lost over the past year, honoring icons like David Lynch, Dame Maggie Smith, Donald Sutherland, and James Earl Jones to the tune of Mozart’s Requiem: Lacrimosa. Gene Hackman and Quincy Jones received stand-alone tributes. But many viewers noticed a large number of late stars were left out of the homage altogether, notably actress Shannen Doherty, who died of breast cancer last summer at the age of 53, and Michelle Trachtenberg, who passed away on Wednesday at 39.
Other stars omitted from the reel include Romeo and Juliet actress Olivia Hussey, Linda Lavin, Mitzi Gaynor, and documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Though it’s not uncommon for the “In Memoriam” reel to get a flurry of annual criticism for omissions, fans on social media got particularly heated about this year’s glaring oversights. “Michelle Trachtenberg deserved her flowers,” one user wrote on X of the Harriet the Spy actress’s apparent snub. “So disrespectful,” agreed another. “No Shannen Doherty … is an outrageous slap in the face,” another user wrote on the platform. “And FUCK the academy for not including Olivia Hussey,” yet another said.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the name selection for the four-minute tribute reel is overseen by an executive committee representing the nineteen Academy branches. The names of the stars included are then kept under wraps to prevent lobbying and hate mail. “We have to recognize all the art forms that go into the creation of motion pictures,” a former Academy executive director told the outlet. “And if you include all the people, the steam goes out of the boiler very quickly.” It seems that happened anyway.
