Luke Perry Was Left Out of the Oscars In Memoriam Segment
Every year great filmmakers are left out of the Academy Awards’ annual segment honoring the artists we’ve lost in the past year. Sometimes it’s a matter of time; there’s only so many people you can honor. (This year they even put two names on the screen at once in an attempt to recognize as many people as possible.) And sometimes, it seems like they just forget to include people.
The 2020 Oscars were no exception. While the ceremony honored greats like Kirk Douglas, Agnes Varda, Anna Karina, and D.A. Pennebaker, others got left out. The most notable names that went unmentioned include Sid Haig, star of many genre classics like The Devil’s Rejects, Ivan Passer, the director of Cutter’s Way, and comedy legend Tim Conway. Maybe the most surprising omission, though, was Luke Perry, who even appeared in one of this year’s Best Picture nominees, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. (Perry played Wayne Maunder, one of the stars of the TV series Lancer.)
True, Perry is best known as a television star for his work on Beverly Hills, 90210 and Riverdale. Still, Perry made some significant contributions to the world of movies. He starred in the rodeo movie 8 Seconds and played Oliver in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie from 1992. He appeared in The Fifth Element and Normal Life. He should have been in there. It’s shocking he wasn’t.
Alas. If you want to see the Oscars’ official In Memoriam photo gallery, that’s available here. And this thread is a good accounting of all the people that should have been included.
Gallery — 25 Best Picture Winners Every Movie Lover Should See: