The 2015 Emmy Awards was a touching night of record-breaking firsts — like Viola Davis becoming the first black woman to win a Best Actress in a Drama award and Jon Hamm taking home the gold after 11 acting nominations — not to mention Tracy Morgan’s emotional return to the stage. One particularly tear-worthy moment, as usual, was the In Memoriam Tribute segment, which honored late TV greats like Joan Rivers and Edward Herrmann.
But the Emmys failed to recognize a handful of actors who tragically passed away over the past 12 months, including the recently departed Jackie Collins, who in addition to her literary work also had 15 acting credits, nine writing credits, and four producing credits, not to mention the 100 different times she appeared in small screen projects as herself.
Also bypassed was Lord of the Rings star Christopher Lee, who in the course of his seven-decade-spanning career worked on numerous TV series, including The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Avengers, How the West Was Won, Charlie’s Angels, The Tomorrow People, and The New Adventures of Robin Hood.
Professional wrestler Roddy Piper, who boasted 120 acting credits prior to his death in July, was also left off the list. So was actress Yvonne Craig, who most famously played Batgirl (aka Barbara Gordon) on the Batman TV series in the late ‘60s.
Tell Us: Should these stars have been included in the Emmys tribute?