Geoff Keighley slammed the 2026 Oscars for not including his father and IMAX pioneer David Keighley in the show’s in memoriam segment.
“My Dad was a proud member of @theacademy for decades and had an incredible impact on the cinema experience as we know it today,” Geoff, 47, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, March 15. “He was a long standing member of the Sci Tech committee as well. Our entire family was so sad his passing didn’t get mentioned in the broadcast tonight. We will never forget his role in shaping movies.”
In his social media post, Geoff also said he was “so incredibly disappointed and heartbroken” that the Oscars didn’t include his father in the annual segment.
The Academy does have an in memoriam section on its website that includes a larger list of Hollywood figures who died in 2025. David is on the list.
In September 2025, David died at the age of 77. James Cameron, Christopher Nolan and Francis Ford Coppola were just some of the stars who paid tribute to the innovator at the time.
“For decades, no IMAX film print left the lab without Keighley’s personal approval,” IMAX said in a press release at the time of his death. “He oversaw post-production for more than 500 IMAX films — ranging from cutting-edge blockbusters to pioneering nature documentaries — and was a trusted partner to some of the world’s most lauded filmmakers, including Christopher Nolan.”
During Sunday’s awards show inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Barbra Streisand, Kiefer Sutherland, Meg Ryan and Rachel McAdams helped pay tribute to some of the Hollywood stars who passed in the past year.
While Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Rob Reiner were included in the telecast, others — including James Van Der Beek, Eric Dane and Malcolm-Jamal Warner — were not featured.
Shortly after the live telecast wrapped, Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes was asked about Dane, 53, not being included in the segment.
“Well, he’s not a movie star, you know?” Rhimes, 56, told Entertainment Tonight at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar party. “And I feel like when the Emmys come around, he will be [immortalized] the way he should be. We can’t fault the Oscars for the fact that they’re looking at movies. And there were so many people who were lost, but Eric was unique to television and I can’t wait to see what they do with him [at the Emmys].”
