Over the past week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences terminated — briefly and, the organization insists, inadvertently — a longstanding courtesy that it had afforded to widows and widowers of people who had been members of the organization, sparking considerable backlash.
Since the 1990s, the Academy has allowed widows and widowers to continue to attend official member screenings in Los Angeles and New York, as they had been able to do with their spouse. But Irene Ramp, the widow of The Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry, says that she arrived at a screening last Saturday only to be told, “We don’t do that anymore.”
Ramp and some 300 others in her situation received written notice from the Academy this week that to “ensure priority access for our Academy members, a population that has grown to 11,000 and will continue to grow, our membership screenings must now be limited to Academy members and their non-press guests.
Since the 1990s, the Academy has allowed widows and widowers to continue to attend official member screenings in Los Angeles and New York, as they had been able to do with their spouse. But Irene Ramp, the widow of The Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry, says that she arrived at a screening last Saturday only to be told, “We don’t do that anymore.”
Ramp and some 300 others in her situation received written notice from the Academy this week that to “ensure priority access for our Academy members, a population that has grown to 11,000 and will continue to grow, our membership screenings must now be limited to Academy members and their non-press guests.
- 4/25/2025
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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