I watched the Academy Awards last night and waited for the segment that I
enjoy watching every year. This is when the Oscars salute the people
who have taken the Final Taxi in the last year. They usually have film
clips that we can see on our TV screens and play music in the
background but this year they did something different by have Queen
Latifah sing the song "I'll Be Seeing You." She did a wonderful job but
the attention was more on her than on those who died during the year.
We did not see many of the names due to this.



In case you missed seeing who was in the tribute last night here is the list:



Cyd Charisse

Bernie Mac

Bud Stone (executive)

Ollie Johnston (animator)

Van Johnson

J. Paul Huntsman (sound)

Michael Crichton

Nina Foch

Pat Hingle

Harold Pinter

Charles H. Joffe (producer)

Kon Ichikawa (director)

Charles H. Schneer (producer)

Abby Mann (screenwriter)

Roy Scheider

David Watkin (director of photography)

Robert Mulligan (director)

Evelyn Keyes

Richard Widmark

Claude Berri (director)

Maila Nurmi (Known onscreen as Vampira)

Isaac Hayes

Leonard Rosenman (composer)

Ricardo Montalban

Manny Farber (film critic)

Robert DoQui

Jules Dassin (director)

Paul Scofield

John Michael Hayes (screenwriter)

Warren Cowan (publicist)

Joseph M. Caracciolo (producer)

Stan Winston (special effects)

Ned Tanen (producer, executive)

James Whitmore

Charlton Heston

Anthony Minghella (director, producer)

Sydney Pollack

Paul Newman



At first I was a little taken back not seeing Heath Ledger’s name on
that list. He had just won Best –Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight
an hour earlier. Then I remembered that he was on the 2007 list from
last year.



There were several others that should have been on that list last night.



First for me was the ‘voice’ of Hollywood- Don LaFontaine. Time was
that you could not go to a movie and not hear a preview without hearing
his voice. He provided the narration to thousands of movie trailers
over the past three decades.



Mel Ferrer, an actor, director, producer in over 100 productions, was
also left off the list. Missing as well was John Phillip Law who will
be most known as the blind angel in “Barbarella" but I enjoyed his
roles in “Jason and the Argonauts" & "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad."



I can never think about Hammer horror films without thinking of Hazel
Court so she was missed and also the sexy Eartha Kitt was not listed.



I think the Academy has something about comedians as they forget about
them every year. We did not get to see the films that George Carlin was
in or those of Harvey Korman, I can see Korman in his scene from
Blazing Saddles where he is talking to the band of villains he has
hired to destroy Rock Ridge. “Men, you are about to embark on a great
crusade to stamp out runaway decency in the west. Now you men will only
be risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost certain
Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor….”

It’s a shame Harvey was not remembered on this night.

Also missing was Patrick McGoohan who most people know from TV's The Prisoner but he stared in over 30 feature films including as King Edward in Mel Gibson's "Braveheart", the warden in Clint Eastwood's "Escape From Alcatraz" and the villain Roger Devereau in "Silver Streak."



The slap in the face to me was forgetting Anita Page, the last
surviving silent film star. This would have be a time to reflect on the
early days of the Academy. She starred with Hollywood legends such as
Lon Chaney Sr., Robert Montgomery, Ramon Novarro, Joan Crawford, Buster
Keaton and Clark Gable. She was also the last living attendee of the
very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.



I wish one year someone at the Academy Awards would pay tribute to
these people who helped pave the way for the actors who received the
Oscar last night.