I may have said this last year but I'm glad I don't have the job of preparing the "In Memoriam" montage that runs on the Emmy Awards, especially this year. Someone has to go over a list of who in the history of television has passed on in the preceding twelve months and then decide who to leave out…knowing full well the family of the omitted will be sitting there, disappointed at the slight. Some loved ones have even been known to send in formal protests describing their hurt and/or anger.
Someone also has to decide who's the "biggie" that they'll use to close the montage. Another tough decision.
Want to play? Here's a partial list of folks in the TV business who've died in the last twelve months. I've left out between 20 and 30 people who might have made the rundown in a lean year. I skipped over movie people like Shelley Winters and recording artists like Gene Pitney and just left in those I think have a shot at it because they did a lot of television. There are 38 names here. Tell me which ones you'd leave out.
Don Adams, June Allyson, Lloyd Bochner, Red Buttons, Jean Byron, Hamilton Camp, Franklin Cover, Bob Denver, Robert Donner, Mike Douglas, Ralph Edwards, Tony Franciosa, Curt Gowdy, Skitch Henderson, Barnard Hughes, Don Knotts, Al Lewis, Pat McCormick, Darren McGavin, Pat Morita, Jan Murray, Sheree North, Louis Nye, Buck Owens, Richard Pryor, Lou Rawls, Charles Rocket, Nipsey Russell, Vincent Schiavelli, Wendie Jo Sperber, Maureen Stapleton, Robert Sterling, Harold J. Stone, Amzie Strickland, Jack Warden, Dennis Weaver, Lennie Weinrib and Jack Wild.
Difficult to pick, right? Ah, wait. It gets worse…because I was only listing performers there. The Academy has been making an attempt to also acknowledge the behind-the-scenes people. The list they had to pick from also included producers, directors, writers, composers and many others. There are potentially fifty more contenders in these categories but I'll be nice and only give you 13 more names to consider. You probably have to get at least a few of these in so as to not slight their professions…
Harvey Bullock, Dan Curtis, Marty Farrell, Bud Freeman, Bruce Johnson, Douglas Hines, Jerry Juhl, Gloria Monty, Michael Piller, Rick Rhodes, Richard Snell, Aaron Spelling and Mickey Spillane.
Now, some of those folks aren't all that well known but the Academy would be demeaning itself and its awards to skip over them. Rick Rhodes, for instance, was a composer who received 27 Emmy nominations and six awards. Are you going to not mention his passing on the Emmy telecast? How about Jerry Juhl, who received seven nominations and one statuette for his work with the Muppets? Make-Up Expert Richard Snell, editor Douglas Hines and game show producer Anne-Marie Schmitt all received multiple nominations and awards. Gonna leave them out? (Irony Alert: One of the names that probably will not be included is Marty Farrell…and the irony here is that Marty often wrote the Emmy Awards and in some years, may have had a hand in this decision.)
I am told that Aaron Spelling will be the subject of a separate tribute. The rest will all go into one montage and while I don't know how many people will be in it, there won't be 50. I'm guessing 20…25, tops. Beyond that, I have no predictions other than that I probably left out someone important…and the segment will probably end with Don Knotts. Everyone loved Don and he took home a load of them Emmy thingies (five!) in his career.
So study the list. You still have time to place a small wager.