Though the Oscars telecast offered few other surprises, some observers are fuming over the omission of Farrah Fawcett, who died of cancer in June 2009, from the In Memoriam roll-call. Critics were quick to chastize the Academy, noting that the beloved "Charlie's Angels" TV star also worked in films: "They have a lot of 'splaining to do," tweeted Roger Ebert. Academy spokesperson Leslie Unger points that the Academy can't satisfy the expectations of every dead actor's fans: "It is impossible to include everybody." Was Fawcett's absence a glaring oversight?
Fawcett deserved the honor: It wasn't just Fawcett's "celebrity" that qualified her for the tribute, says Beth Harris in the AP. She had movie "credits" to match — from a role in sci-fi classic "Logan's Run" to a turn in Robert Altman's "Dr T and the Women." OK, she was "predominantly a TV actress," but Michael Jackson made the cut, and his "predominant medium" wasn't "theatrically released movies," either.
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