2010 Oscars "In Memoriam" Without Farrah Fawcett -- but Why?

Out of the three hours and 37 minutes that comprised the entirety of the 82^ndAcademy Awards Sunday night, the most glaring omission was the five seconds or so not devoted to one of Hollywood's most famous icons - Farrah Fawcett. Blogs and news services started talking about it almost from the moment the "In Memoriam" segment aired live on ABC Television. And no matter their excuse, the producers of the 2010 Oscars really had no basis for the omission.

The "In Memoriam" portion of the Academy Awards is a tribute to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that died in the previous year. While James Taylor played and sang "In My Life," the images of those who passed away were shown emblazoned in the background. Among those honored were Patrick Swayze, David Carradine, Dom DeLouise, Natasha Richardson, and Brittany Murphy.

But Farrah Fawcett was missing.

Noted film critic Roger Ebert took to Twitter to voice his outrage. "No Farrah in the memorial," he tweeted. "They have a lot of 'splaining to do."

Each year, some get left out of the "In Memoriam" montage, and it causes a ripple of controversy, quickly forgotten until the following year. But this time around, the producers really have no basis for not including Farrah Fawcett in the montage.

The most common used excuse by the Academy and the producers is always "time issues" or "constraints." Since the 2010 Oscars went over their allotted time by over an hour, it would seem that this year time constraints weren't that constraining. And one could also argue that they could have used the time for the "In Memoriam" portion more fully, placing a few seconds of Farrah Fawcett at the beginning, where there was about ten seconds before the images began to flow. Or they could have placed her at the end, where a repeat of several of the more famous were shown again, like David Carradine and Brittany Murphy. But if the show was going to go on for as long as it did, what would five seconds of Farrah Fawcett have mattered?

Then there were the tributes such as the one for John Hughes. He wasn't shown in the montage, but, then, he got his own 10 minutes or so of tribute footage and former individuals who starred in his films to memorialize him.

And what about the horror movies tribute? There was a complete waste of about five minutes or more.

And what about the dance "interpretations" of the musical scores of the movies nominated for Best Original Score? Certainly the dancing was spectacular (choreographed by "Hairspray" director and "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Adam Shankman, who also produced the show), but...

But some point to the inclusion of Michael Jackson, whose contribution to film was negligible and who incidentally died within hours of Farrah Fawcett, in the segment. And then there was Brittany Murphy, whose claim to fame even today seems to be a popular b-movie called "Clueless" (although, to be fair, she did do "Girl, Interrupted" and "Don't Say A Word").

Some might argue that Farrah Fawcett was primarily a pin-up girl and a television icon ("Charlie's Angels"), an actress noted for her Emmy and Golden Globe performances for television ("The Burning Bed," "Small Sacrifices"). But that would deny all her film roles, from "Logan's Run" to "The Cannonball Run," from "Extremities" (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress - Drama) to "The Apostle" (a film nominated for an Academy Award and for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress).

So why wasn't Farrah Fawcett included in the "In Memoriam" montage at the 2010 Oscars?

And while we're looking into it, why wasn't Bea Arthur?

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Sources:

"Farrah Fawcett," IMDb.com

Twitter.com

"82^nd Academy Awards," ABC Television

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