The Academy’s dearly departed
Morbid as it seems to admit, one of the things we most anticipate about each year’s Oscar telecast is the video montage paying homage to Academy members who’ve died in the past year.
But perhaps it’s not such a morbid thing at all. Perhaps it springs from the same impulse that leads us to read newspaper obituaries so avidly – a celebration of remarkable lives well and fully lived.
Yeah, that’s it. A celebration, Hollywood style, complete with stirring music, still photos and film clips, along with the dearly departed’s name and show-biz distinction. Big stars and anonymous, behind-the-scenes functionaries alike are sent off with tasteful and artful fanfare (and smatterings of applause). A final curtain call.
Anyway, the list of Academy members who’ve gone on to the Big Craft Services Table in the Sky since last year currently numbers 95 (there’s a complete roster on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website).
Among the most recognizable are: Tom Bosley, Maury Chaykin, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Culp, Tony Curtis, John Forsythe, Anne Francis, James Gammon, Harold Gould, Peter Graves, Kathryn Grayson, Dennis Hopper, James MacAuthur, Simon MacCorkindale, Janet MacLachlan, Kevin McCarthy, Patricia Neal, Pete Postlethwaite, Lynn Redgrave and Gloria Stuart – actors all.
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