Actor Mira Sorvino has said she is “incredibly hurt and shocked” after her father, the late actor Paul Sorvino, was omitted from the Oscars’ in memoriam segment on Sunday night.
Sorvino, an Academy Award-winning actor, shared a clip of her father’s tearful reaction to her win, for her performance in the 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite. Having shared the footage on Instagram before the Oscars ceremony began, she later edited the caption to say she had learned he had not been included in the show’s annual in memoriam section, along with “several other incredible artists”.
“Incredibly hurt and shocked that my father’s lifelong, irreplaceable, enormous contribution to the world of cinema was overlooked by whomever made that list,” she wrote. “We his adoring family, and you, his adoring public, know just how unique and incredible he was. We hope [the Academy] does something to put this right.”
Later, she shared a story on Twitter about her father’s omission, saying: “It is baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out. The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”
Paul Sorvino’s widow, Dee Dee Sorvino, told People that the omission was “unconscionable”.
“It’s a three-hour show, they can’t give a couple more minutes to get it right? Paul Sorvino gave decades to this industry and was loved by all. Paul was not the only deserving soul left out, and a QR Code is not acceptable,” she said.
Paul Sorvino, famed for his performance in Goodfellas, died in July at the age of 83.
The Academy has been criticised for including certain actors and film industry figures in the televised segment, while relegating others to a website that could be accessed via a dedicated QR code promoted during the broadcast.
Charlbi Dean, one of the leads in best picture-nominee Triangle of Sadness, was not included in the televised segment. She died from bacterial sepsis in August, at the age of 32.
Anne Heche, who died a week after a car crash in August, was only included on the website, as was Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore, who died a little over a week before the ceremony, and actor Leslie Jordan, who died at the age of 67 after a car crash in October. Actor Chaim Topol, who was nominated for best actor for his performance in Fiddler on the Roof, was only included on the website, as was actor and comedian Gilbert Gottfried.
Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley who died in January, was not included on the broadcast or the website, despite her involvement with the Baz Luhrmann biopic about her father.
Those featured in the broadcast included Olivia Newton-John, Nichelle Nichols, Robbie Coltrane, Kirstie Alley, Jean-Luc Godard, Raquel Welch, Ray Liotta, and James Caan.
