Oscars In Memoriam Snubs Bardot, Van Der Beek
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- The Academy Awards held an extended In Memoriam segment honouring Hollywood figures who died over the past year, with standalone speeches for Diane Keaton, Robert Redford, and Rob Reiner and extended moments for Claudia Cardinale and Catherine O'Hara.
- Brigitte Bardot, the French cinema star of And God Created Woman, The Truth, A Very Private Affair, and Contempt, was left out despite dying in December at 91; the article speculates her far-right politics and animal-rights activism — which drew boos at the César Awards in February — may have been a factor.
- James Van Der Beek and Eric Dane, both TV pin-ups who also acted in film and died young, were also omitted, as was veteran British actor Prunella Scales despite acclaimed film roles in The Boys from Brazil, Howards End, and An Awfully Big Adventure.
- Dharmendra, the Indian actor whose 65-year career spanned more than 300 Hindi films, and Bud Cort, the star of 1971's Harold and Maude, were likewise left out of the tribute.
- Those honoured on screen included Robert Duvall, Val Kilmer, Diane Ladd, Robert Carradine, Graham Greene, Ken Jacobs, and Michael Madsen, alongside UK talent Terence Stamp, Tom Stoppard, and Pauline Collins, and European icons Udo Kier, Claudia Cardinale, and Béla Tarr.
Why it matters: The Oscars' In Memoriam segment is the industry's most public roll call of the year, and its omissions — particularly a 91-year-old icon like Bardot and the young, widely mourned Van Der Beek — tend to generate outsized backlash among viewers who use the list as a final cultural acknowledgement. The article surfaces a recurring question for voters: whether the Academy honours legacy or curates for controversy, a tension made sharper by Bardot's political baggage versus Dharmendra and Cort having no comparable explanation for their absence.
