Oscars In Memoriam: Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore Missing From Segment

Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Paul Sorvino, Charlbi Dean and Leslie Jordan were among the names missing from the 2023 Oscars In Memoriam segment, which recognizes stars and filmmakers who died over the past year.

John Travolta choked up as he introduced the annual In Memoriam segment, which featured Lenny Kravitz performing “Calling All Angels,” with a tribute to Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John.

On Twitter and other social media platforms, viewers mentioned that the likes of Heche, who starred in such movies as Donnie Brasco, Volcano and Wag the Dog and on such TV shows as Men in Trees and Hung; South African Triangle of Sadness actress Dean; character actor Sorvino; Call Me Kat and Will & Grace actor Jordan; and Sizemore, who starred as Sgt. Mike Horvath in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and portrayed cops, crooks and psychopaths, should have been included.

All of them are, however, are part of the In Memoriam section of the Oscars website.

Actress Lydia Cornell (Too Close for Comfort) was among those who noted their omissions during the ceremony.

Can anyone explain why this happens every year? Oscars In Memoriam Segment Missing Paul Sorvino, Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Leslie Jordan and Charlbi Dean From Oscar-Nominated ‘Triangle Of Sadness’ pic.twitter.com/5eT09DGnU9

— Lydia Cornell (@LydiaCornell) March 13, 2023

On Monday, there was also a backlash against the omission of actress, model and activist Marsha Hunt (These Glamour Girls, Pride and Prejudice, Raw Deal) who was blacklisted by Hollywood executives in the 1950s during McCarthyism and died in September at the age of 104.

Astonishing AMPAS overlooked the great actress and activist Marsha Hunt. Here she is (between June Havoc and Bogart) with the Committe for the First Amendment on the way to Washington DC to protest the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947 pic.twitter.com/e6iAg9RbkI

— Thomas Doherty (@TomDohertyfilm) March 13, 2023

Later Monday, Sorvino’s daughter, Mira Sorvino, herself an Oscar winner, took to Twitter to lament the Academy leaving her father out of the segment.

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!! https://t.co/dbgcfb1qy3 via @forthewin

— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) March 13, 2023

The younger Sorvino also updated an Instagram post looking back on her Oscar win to express how she is “incredibly hurt and shocked that my father’s lifelong, irreplaceable, enormous contribution to the world of cinema was overlooked by whomever made that [In Memoriam] list.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mira Sorvino (@mirasorvino)

The In Memoriam segment is always one of the most emotional moments of the Oscars ceremony and popular with viewers, but it also tends to cause debate over who gets included during the televised ceremony and who doesn’t.

Among the big Hollywood names who did get memorialized during the ceremony this year were stars James Caan, Angela Lansbury, Gina Lollobrigida, Newton-John and Raquel Welch, as well as director Wolfgang Petersen. 

Executive producers for this year’s Oscars, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, told The Hollywood Reporter that they were not involved in the selection process for the segment. A spokesperson for The Academy then clarified that the “committee that makes In Memoriam decisions features a representative from each of the organization’s 17 branches, and some names that are more familiar to audiences cannot be included because all branches are entitled to representation during the limited time allotted for the segment.”

12:19 p.m. This story has been updated with Mira Sorvino’s comment about her father’s omission.

1:25 p.m. This story was updated with comment from The Academy’s producers about the segment.

1:50 p.m. This story was updated with Mira Sorvino’s Instagram post.