It’s the day after the Oscars and, of course, people are bitching about the ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment. Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder sung Tom Petty’s “Room At The Top” in his baleful moan (which probably left those in the Kodak Theater and watching at home wish they could join the dead), as names, photos, and—in some cases—a short film clip—of members of the Hollywood community who died the past year paraded by. There were some notable omissions: Oscar-winners Dorothy Malone and Glen Campbell were nowhere to be found; also missing were director (the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Poltergeist”) Tobe Hooper, actors Della Reese, Powers Boothe and, for any child of the 60s the unkindest cut, Adam West, the one true Batman.
Those of us here at the Obitmagazine niche were just as troubled by the treatment of Jeanne Moreau. The French actress worked with directors such as François Truffaut (“Jules et Jim,” where her intelligence and sensuality caused many a film student to swoon), Michelangelo Antonioni (“La Notte”), Orson Welles (“Chimes At Midnight,” “The Trial”), and Rainier Werner Fassbinder (“Querelle,” based on a novel by her friend, Jean Genet). She also found success as a singer (performing with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall), writer, producer, and director. She was included, but it took a sharp eye, as when her name was on the screen, the camera was panning to get a look at Vedder, emoting so hard we we think he was trying to contract the dead. Jeanne Moreau deserved better.
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