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LOS ANGELES - Blogs were buzzing Monday with discussion of why Brad Renfro was left out of the Academy Awards tribute to Hollywood figures who died in the past year.
The troubled 25-year-old actor died Jan. 15 of a heroin and morphine overdose. Heath Ledger, killed by an overdose of prescription drugs one week later, appeared in a scene from “Brokeback Mountain” at the conclusion of the three-minute video tribute at Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony.
“Unfortunately we cannot include everyone,” said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. “Our goal is to honour individuals who worked in the many professions and trades of the motion picture industry, not just actors.”
Hilary Swank introduced the Oscar segment, which featured 43 people including makeup artists, a stuntman and several Hollywood agents. Unger said it was not required that those honoured be members of the Academy or past Oscar nominees.
USA Today blogger Whitney Matheson headlined a post Monday, “Why was Brad snubbed last night?” and Perez Hilton posted a mug shot of Renfro with the words “Oscar Snub.”
TMZ speculated Renfro was not “feel-good enough” for Oscar, but public comments left on the site also pointed out that in contrast to Ledger, “Renfro wasn’t a big enough star.”
Unger shook off the suggestion that Renfro wasn’t included because of his history with drugs. “I can’t speak to what other people are going to think,” Unger said. “We can’t include everybody.”
Renfro was most well-known for his title role in 1993’s “The Client,” and had his last major roles more than a decade ago. He had appeared in smaller parts in recent years.
Oscar-nominated “Jaws” star Roy Scheider also was not included. His death on Feb. 10 fell outside the time frame of the tribute video, which covered Feb. 1, 2007 to Jan. 31, 2008.

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Annual Academy Awards are over, and the Oscar parties underway. Denzel Washington presented tonight’s top award for Best Picture, which went to “No Country for Old Men.” Academy Award host Jon Stewart started the show’s opening monologue with comments on the writer’s strike, stating that, “Tonight, the fight is over!” This will be Stewart’s second consecutive year as the award show’s host.
The highlight of the show was Diablo Cody winning Best Original Screenplay for “Juno.” Diablo’s emotional acceptance speech marked an impressive victory for a woman who worked as a stripper just about five years ago. “Juno” star Ellen Page was nominated for best actress in a leading role, but she did not win in her category-the best actress award went instead to newcomer Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose.”
George Clooney presented a montage of the memorable moments that have taken place at the Academy Award shows of the past. Tonight’s show marks the 80
anniversary for the academy awards. Clooney joked that one thing has remained the same-it’s always been long! He transgressed, saying that the common denominator was really that this show always promised to be unpredictable.
Another movie montage sequence was shown later in the show, this one presented by the legendary Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s montage featured the 79 films that have won best film Oscars past. Hillary Swank paid tribute to departed actors and actresses who have left a legacy in Hollywood with another montage, with concluded in memoriam to actor Heath Ledger.
Another feature of this year’s show: the Academy has “Gone Green.” According to Oscar.com, the official website of the 80

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