The 2025 Oscars Botched The In Memoriam Again

The Academy Awards are the biggest night of the year for Hollywood. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gather to honor the films, filmmakers, performers, and technicians whose work they judge to be the best of the year and dole out prestigious trophies of a little golden man holding a sword they call Oscar. It's a night of glamor, spectacle, and most of all, celebration — of the movies but also the people who make them, year in and year out.

History is never far from the minds and hearts of Academy Award participants, and viewers can count on an annual "In Memoriam" package. A montage set to somber, reflective music, the segment recognizes all of the film industry luminaries who died between the day of the last Oscars television broadcast and the current one. Everyone from actors to screenwriters to costume designers to executives who died is honored with a bit of screen time as the world wishes them farewell. But there's only so much time and space, and without fail, at least a few people seemingly worthy of inclusion don't make it into the "In Memoriam" segment. At the 97th Academy Awards, presented on March 2, 2024, the show's producers severely messed up following a touching tribute delivered by Morgan Freeman to his friend and co-star Gene Hackman. Here are the biggest names left out of the memorial segment.

The definitive screen version of William Shakespeare's tragic teenage romance "Romeo and Juliet" was the one released in 1968, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Argentine-British actor Olivia Hussey was 16 years old when she landed the role of heroine Juliet, which led to instant stardom and a Golden Globe award for most promising newcomer. In the '70s, Hussey appeared in many favorite films of the era, including "Lost Horizon," "Death on the Nile," and "Black Christmas," and portrayed Mary in the epic TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth." Hussey continued working throughout the 1980s and 1990s in independent movies and providing voice work.

Hussey last appeared on screen in the 2015 movie "Social Suicide." The actor died from the effects of cancer in December 2024 at age 73. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences neglected to include Hussey in its "In Memoriam" tribute at the 2025 Oscars in March 2025.

Every year, the Oscars ceremony puts a few minutes aside to pay tribute to the film greats who died in the past year. Character actors are often included — those performers who rack up dozens of credits playing small but pivotal roles in movies across careers that last many decades. Bernard Hill was that kind of actor. He appeared in more than 130 projects dating back to the mid-1970s and continuing through his death in May 2024 at age 79.

Hill worked often in U.K.-based productions, but he wasn't unknown to the American film industry or mainstream audiences. His two best-known roles came in two fairly recent winners of the Academy Award for best picture. In 1997, he played Captain Edward Smith of the doomed titular ocean liner in "Titanic," and in 2003, he portrayed King Théoden in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

A chameleonic character actor, Tony Todd had a tendency to disappear into his movie roles, which generally came in action, fantasy, and horror films. As Todd was a legend to fans of generally less-than-critically-acclaimed genre films, this may explain his exclusion from the "In Memoriam" montage aired as part of the 2025 Academy Awards. However, Todd was a true industry professional. As one of the most prolific actors in recent memory, Todd landed roles in nearly 250 movies and television series across the past four decades, working steadily up until his death from cancer at age 69 in November 2024.

Todd was likely best known for his role as the titular villain in three "Candyman" horror films in the 1990s. He also famously portrayed bad guy henchman Grange in the original version of "The Crow," the enigmatic funeral director in "Final Destination," and Captain Darrow in "The Rock."

The Academy Awards honor and celebrate film and the people who make movies. As such, its annual "In Memoriam" segment generally focuses on recently deceased professionals whose careers consist primarily of film work. Sometimes, actors who were more closely associated with TV than film may be left out of the montage. This phenomenon occurred at the 2025 Oscars ceremony. In July 2024, Shannen Doherty died nine years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Doherty was 53 years old, and while she did appear in a few films — most notably "The Secret of NIMH," "Heathers," and "Mallrats" — she was a superstar of television. As a child actor in the 1980s, she starred in "Little House on the Prairie" and "Our House" before moving into teen-centric fare in the 1990s like "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Charmed."

Michelle Trachtenberg received similar treatment from the Academy. The 39-year-old actor died just four days before the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony and was omitted from the "In Memoriam" piece. Best known for her work on "Gossip Girl," "The Adventures of Pete and Pete," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Trachtenberg starred in a run of films in the mid-2000s, such as "Ice Princess," "Mysterious Skin," and "EuroTrip."