Farrah Fawcett's Oscars snub

Why was the late star of both film (Dr. T and the Women) and TV (Charlie's Angels) noticably absent from the telecast's "In Memoriam" segment?

Fawcett was more than a pinup - she starred in 19 films
(Image credit: Creative Commons)

Though the Oscars telecast offered few other surprises, some observers are fuming over the omission of Farrah Fawcett, who died of cancer in June 2009, from the In Memoriam roll-call. Critics were quick to chastize the Academy, noting that the beloved "Charlie's Angels" TV star also worked in films: "They have a lot of 'splaining to do," tweeted Roger Ebert. Academy spokesperson Leslie Unger points that the Academy can't satisfy the expectations of every dead actor's fans: "It is impossible to include everybody." Was Fawcett's absence a glaring oversight?

Fawcett deserved the honor: It wasn't just Fawcett's "celebrity" that qualified her for the tribute, says Beth Harris in the AP. She had movie "credits" to match — from a role in sci-fi classic "Logan's Run" to a turn in Robert Altman's "Dr T and the Women." OK, she was "predominantly a TV actress," but Michael Jackson made the cut, and his "predominant medium" wasn't "theatrically released movies," either.

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