Several folks have written me to say that Sandra Dee was not in the Oscarcast "In Memoriam" segment because it was for 2004 deaths and she died in 2005. This is not the case. Yeah, she passed away on 2/20/05 but Ossie Davis died on 2/4/05 and he was in there. The rule, as I understand it, is that the montage is for those who've left us since the last montage was assembled. Most likely, this year's was already finished when Ms. Dee died — which, by the way, was the same day John Raitt died — and I guess the decision was made not to go back in and re-edit to include them. Presumably, they would have done this for someone a lot more prominent.
It has also been pointed out to me that John Vernon didn't make it in. And while Fred Ebb's most important work was for the stage, he did write for movies and had two Oscar nominations, one of them only two years ago. He also co-wrote "New York, New York" which, amazingly, was not nominated for an Academy Award but which may well be the most popular song ever written for a motion picture. (The winner that year was "You Light Up My Life." When was the last time you heard that one?)
Someone else wrote to ask me who I'd like to see host the Oscars. If it were up to me, I'd ask Albert Brooks or Tom Hanks…and perhaps they have. But if Steve Martin were willing to do it again, I'd give him the job for life.