Mira Sorvino found the Academy’s decision to leave her father, “Goodfellas” star Paul Sorvino,” out of Sunday night’s on-air In Memoriam tribute, “baffling beyond belief.”
The actress, who won a Best Supporting Oscar for the 1995 comedy “Mighty Aphrodite,” tweeted her disappointment Sunday night, “I for one am remembering Dad on this Oscars night.” On Monday, she addressed the omission more directly, tweeting, “It is baffling beyond belief that my beloved father and many other amazing brilliant departed actors were left out. The Oscars forgot about Paul Sorvino, but the rest of us never will!!”
Sorvino’s Oscar-nominated “Goodfellas” costar Ray Liotta, who died on May 26, 2022, was included in the broadcast tribute, but several other admired actors, including Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Philip Baker Hall and Cindy Williams, were not.
Paul’s widow, Dee Dee Sorvino, also blasted the Academy, telling People in a statement Monday, “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. 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.”
She dismissed the QR code, which connected tech-savvy users to a list of late stars left off the broadcast, as “not acceptable.” She added, ” The Academy needs to issue an apology, admit the mistake and do better. Paul Sorvino deserves better, the audience deserves better. Is the Academy so jaded they forget people who are loved, who have given their hearts to this industry? Shame on the Academy if this is not corrected,” she added. “Mistakes are made, this was a big one. Please do something to make it right.”
Earlier on Sunday evening, Mira shared her memory of her father’s joy when she won her Oscar.
“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 on Instagram.
“To get to share this blindingly positive moment with my father… My first and best teacher, my beloved Daddy who came to all the school plays and loved from the bottom of his heart, the brilliant thespian whom all his colleagues revered as one of the greatest, to get to give back to him what he had been giving me all my life- love and belief and admiration and gratitude. In this first year after his passing it is truly a bittersweet but beautiful memory. I love you Dad, I miss you so much,” she concluded.
Actor Michael Sorvino, Miras’ brother, also shared his frustration on Twitter, writing, “While I am happy for the nominees and winners of #oscars95 I think it is shameful and insulting to the memory of my father, Paul Sorvino, that the @TheAcademy left him out of the telecast’s In Memoriam segment. The man put his ENTIRE SOUL into virtually every movie role he did.”
Sorvino died on July 25, 2022 at age 83 of natural causes. Besides “Goodfellas,” he was known for his role as Phil Cerreta on “Law & Order,” and for films including “Reds,” “The Rocketeer,” “Romeo + Juliet,” and “Nixon,” where he played Henry Kissinger. He also guested as the father of Bruce Willis’ character on the ’80s series “Moonlighting” and dad to Jeff Garlin’s character on “The Goldbergs.”
Several other fans, including film critic Richard Roeper, also took to social media to pay their respects to the late actor.
