Paul Sorvino’s family have spoken out about the late Goodfellas actor being snubbed during the In Memoriam segment at this year’s Oscars, calling his omission “baffling beyond belief”.
During the ceremony on Sunday, musician Lenny Kravitz performed his song Calling All Angels as a screen behind him showed a montage of notable figures from the world of film who had died in the past year.
These included Olivia Newton John, Ray Liotta, Angela Lansbury, Jean-Luc Godard and Irene Cara.
Other stars to be featured in the segment were Burt Bacharach, Nichelle Nichols, Kirstie Alley and Racquel Welch.
There was no mention however for character actor and opera singer Sorvino, who was known for his menacing performances in movies such as The Gambler and Romeo + Juliet and died of natural causes in July 2022 at the age of 83.
Taking to social media after the ceremony, his actress daughter Mira Sorvino, wrote on Instagram: “I for one am remembering Dad on this Oscars night…”
Her post included a clip of her father visibly weeping at the Oscars in 1996, after she won the Best Supporting Actress prize for her role in Woody Allen’sMighty Aphrodite.
Ms Sorvino later amended her caption, explaining that she had posted the reel before learning “of Dad’s omission and that of several other incredible artists from the In Memoriam section”.
“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 stated.
“We his adoring family, and you, his adoring public, know just how unique and incredible he was. We hope @theacademy does something to put this right.”
Adding: “The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”
She later tweeted that it was “baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out”.
Mr Sorvino’s widow, Dee Dee Sorvino, who he married in 2014, told People: “Paul Sorvino was one of the greatest actors in cinematic history in Hollywood. It is unconscionable that he would be left out of the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars.
“It’s a three-hour show, they can’t give a couple more minutes to get it right?”
She called on the Academy to “issue an apology, admit the mistake and do better”.
Addressing the issue, an Academy spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter that the segment’s selection committee “features a representative from each of the organisation’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”.
