James Van Der Beek & Eric Dane Were Left Out Of The Oscars "In Memoriam"
What happened here?
It’s been a particularly tragic year in Hollywood, as the 2026 Academy Awards emphasized in a noticeably lengthy “In Memoriam” segment. The montage included extended tributes to lost legends like Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton, and Robert Redford. But viewers couldn’t help but notice that some other big names were left out, including the recently deceased James Van Der Beek and Eric Dane.
Though Van Der Beek and Dane were most well-known for their iconic television roles, they also appeared in several major movies, so it was perplexing for their legacy to not be honored on the Oscars stage. Van Der Beek died on Feb. 11 after his battle with stage three colorectal cancer. Dane died on Feb. 19 due to complications with his ALS disease. Both actors were honored on the Academy’s website, but not during the ceremony’s live broadcast.
It’s possible their deaths were too recent for the Oscars to hastily include them in the pre-planned montage, as had presumably happened last year when Michelle Trachtenberg was not included in the 2025 Oscars “In Memoriam” segment. Trachtenberg had died just four days before last year’s Oscars ceremony.
Van Der Beek and Dane weren’t the only notable omissions from the remembrance montage. Lizzie McGuire star Robert Carradine, who also died recently on Feb. 23, was not included in the segment. Neither was French film icon Brigitte Bardot, who died on Dec. 28. And viewers also pointed out that The Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died last July, was excluded from the “In Memoriam” as well.
The omissions make it even more clear just how many beloved actors we lost this past year, because even though so many big names were missing, the Oscars segment was still full of heartbreaking tributes. Billy Crystal staged an emotional reunion of all the major actors his friend and collaborator Rob Reiner worked with before his death. Rachel McAdams teared up during a poignant speech about her The Family Stone co-star Diane Keaton. And Barbra Streisand sand the chorus of her song “The Way We Were” to honor her co-star Robert Redford.
