Mira Sorvino has blasted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for leaving her late father, Paul Sorvino, out of the 2023 Oscars In Memoriam segment.
“It is baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out,” Mira Sorvino wrote on Twitter. “The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”
The tweet came after Mira Sorvino shared an Instagram clip on Sunday night of her memorable 1996 Best Supporting Actress acceptance speech for Mighty Aphrodite, in which she thanked her father and caused him to break down in tears. “On this Oscars night I am so happy for all of the nominees and the winners, but I am also moved in a thousand different ways when I think of the night I got to share my Academy Award with my Dad, the very great actor Paul Sorvino, who was never nominated,” she wrote in the initial caption. “On this first year after his passing it is truly a bittersweet but beautiful memory.”
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After Paul Sorvino was left out of the In Memoriam segment, Mira Sorvino edited the post and added that she was “incredibly hurt and shocked that my father’s lifelong, irreplaceable, enormous contribution to the world of cinema was overlooked by whomever made that list. 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.”
In a statement provided to People magazine, Paul Sorvino’s widow Dee Dee called upon the Academy to apologize for the exclusion. “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,” she said. “It’s a three-hour show, they can’t give a couple more minutes to get it right? Paul Sorvino gave decades to this industry and was loved by all.”
Paul Sorvino died at 83 years old in July 2022 of natural causes. He was best known for his roles as Mafia don Paul Cicero in Goodfellas, Henry Kissinger in Nixon, and Sgt. Frank Cerreta on Law & Order.
Other notable omissions from the In Memoriam segment include Anne Heche and Charlbi Dean (the latter starred in the Best Picture nominee Triangle of Sadness). Leslie Jordan, Gilbert Gottfried, Cindy Williams, and the recently passed Tom Sizemore weren’t mentioned on the telecast, either. However, Sorvino and the aforementioned actors were all memorialized on the Oscar website.
Check out our 2023 Oscars recap and see the winners list here.
This, from my Instagram reel paying tribute to my Dad and my memories of sharing my Oscar with him: pic.twitter.com/Xh2OKxA2Pa
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) March 13, 2023