I am informed by several folks that the Academy has a February 1 cut-off for each year's "In Memoriam" reel. I'm not sure how long they've had this, and I suspect they'd violate it for a big enough star. But that's the reason Don Knotts, Darren McGavin and Jack Wild weren't in this year's montage. As I look over the list of movie people who passed away during the applicable period, I don't see any glaring omissions.