The 2025 Oscars In Memoriam Segment Had A Surprising Amount Of Snubs
The In Memoriam segment of each year's ceremony tends to be a lightning rod of controversy. Whether it's cinephiles complaining that too much attention has been placed on the segment's performers instead of those who've passed away, disrespectful song choices, or cramming dozens of names into a text bubble, it tends to be the ceremony's most picked-apart segment. But the 2025 ceremony committed one of the biggest sins a memorial segment can commit — it left some major movie stars out of the montage.
While Quincy Jones got a splashy send-off, some of his colleagues did not receive the same treatment. One of the biggest omissions was that of horror legend Tony Todd, who passed away on November 6, 2024. Olivia Hussey — who made her name as Juliet Capulet in Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" and went on to star in dozens of other cult films, like the original "Black Christmas" — was also ignored after her December 27, 2024 death. They were just some of the major names who were snubbed during the 2025 Oscar montage.
Plenty of actors were left out of this year's In Memoriam Segment
While Nickelodeon star Michelle Trachtenberg was arguably better known for her TV work, she made a solid impression in several big-screen outings like "Mysterious Skin," "Ice Princesses," and "Road Trip." That makes her being snubbed after her February 26, 2025 passing all the more tragic. Also ignored was another former teen star, Shannen Doherty. While she, too, arguably made a bigger impact on television, she gained plenty of attention for appearing in the cult film "Heathers." Doherty died on July 13, 2024.
French actor Alain Delon, best known for a wide variety of French films that made him an international sex symbol, was also missing from the montage, as was Bernard Hill, who had prominent roles in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as Théoden and "Titanic" as Captain Edward Smith. Even classic Hollywood stars like creature feature queen Barbara Rush were snubbed during the montage. Perhaps next year the Academy will refrain from longform musical tributes to franchises past and do all of its deceased members justice.