Wanted: Dead or Alive

Awards shows are all about emotions, and emotions run high.

When you choose a single winner from a deep pool of deserving first-time candidates or a group of career performers, there are bound to be repercussions in the form of hurt feelings, a change in income for the actors and their families, and even a little quid pro quo in the form of “nominate me, and I’ll act in one of your films.”

Of course, only true Hollywood legends can command a tradeoff where acting in one film is the prerequisite to directing the next, but that’s how things get done in Hollywood.

After all, these folks are all friends, and there’s no law against talking shop with one another or with their family. Blood is still thicker than water, but cash is the eternal king of show business.

An Academy Award can lengthen a film’s first run and add millions to its value. Emotions run especially high for recognition for those who have passed on during the last 12 months.

This year’s batch of actors and film professionals who were laid to rest in 2019 is at least as poignant as every year. Whether it’s sadder depends on which group of actors you knew or whose bodies of work you were familiar with.

At VIP Concierge, we keep all the hottest celebrities in our heart, and that’s why this show hit us harder than ever.

Who’s In The Running

There’s always one or two people who were left out of the running who deserved to be heralded for their great body of work.

Usually, street justice handles that, with trolls picking on Twitter accounts and spreading fake news or going straight to felony harassment for hacking someone’s computer who might have been able to get a beloved actor on the list at the last minute.

All too often, that doesn’t happen, and awards judges have had their home computers infected by a virus that locks them out until they pay a ransom to the computer-nappers.

“Talented people who had short lives for $2,000, Alex” may not have been a quote from a contestant on Jeopardy, but it probably was. It’s so natural. The “27 Club ” is made up exclusively of entertainment pros who died during the previous year.

Many of us remember when Phil Hartman committed suicide or Prince died from too many percocettes, or Robin Williams hanged himself.

Those were not moments to be cherished, but the actors needed to be mentioned and recognized for their life’s work, and they were.

Every year, some of them get forgotten due to proximity to the award date and the deadline for submitting the clip to the production people.

The 2020 Oscars Memorial

This year, despite losing such well-known and admired actors as Tim Conway, who brought the funny by the bucket along with Harvey Korman to The Carol Burnett Show for years, and Arte Johnson, the man with a hundred faces and voices on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, the cry has gone up far and near.

Why wasn’t Luke Perry included in the memorial? He had the body of work and the length of time in the industry, like Conway and Johnson.

Perry was even in Quentin Tarrantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood–a nominee for best picture–as well as the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1992 and, five years later, the Bruce Willis-led sci-fi movie The Fifth Element.

He also played the starring role of late bull rider Lane Frost in 1994’s 8 Seconds. Perry died March 4, at age 52, following a stroke. That should have been plenty of time to get the message over to the Memorial people at the Academy.

When he wasn’t included in the memorial segment, fans were so upset that they wailed loud and long to the Academy until they received their reply. “An executive committee representing every branch considers the list and makes selections for the telecast based on limited available time.

All the submissions are included on Oscar.com and will remain on the site throughout the year. Luke Perry is well-remembered in the Oscar.com gallery. The Academy replied by saying that they receive hundreds of nominations every year that don’t get on the air but are mentioned on the website.

2019’s Celebrity Losses

In case you missed it, here are some of the talented movie professionals lost to us during 2019.

Andre Previn, Arte Johnson, Bibi Andersson, Billy Drago, Bob Dorian, film historian and actor Buck Henry, writer, director and actor, Carol Lynley, Catherine Burns, Charles Wood, writer Danny Aiello, Diahann Carroll, actress and singer, Dick Dale, musician, Doris Day, Dyanne Thorne, Edd Byrnes, Edith Scob, Ivan Passer, director and writer, Jan-Michael Vincent, Jeremy Kemp, Jerry Herman, composer, lyricist, Kirk Douglas, actor, producer and director, Orson Bean, Sid Haig and Tim Conway. Check the Oscar site to read the full list.

Be there next year for the 2021 Academy Awards after parties, where this and other topics will be talked about until the wee small hours of the morning by those who’ve been there, done that, bought the T-shirt and a bottle of the commemorative single-barrel bourbon for good measure.

Check back with us regularly, as we get tickets to the parties throughout the year, and they sell quickly.