Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

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anonymous1980
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by anonymous1980 »

I don't think she "lost her membership", per se. People like her are now considered "members emeritus" or something like that. They're still technically Academy members with all the rights and perks that comes with Academy membership. The only thing they can't do is actually vote. I believe the rule is you have to have worked at least once within the past 10 years in order to be eligible to vote. I'm not sure if appearing in those documentaries would count as working on film but at the very least, Sister Dolores most likely still gets the screeners.

One of my favorite anecdotes involving her being an Academy member is back in 2009 when all her fellow nuns thought The Hurt Locker deserved Best Picture but was upset with her when she voted for Avatar instead. :lol:
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

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Mister Tee wrote:I was pretty sure Mother Dolores lost her membership when they culled the rolls a few years ago.
Did they ever go through with that? She did attend the Oscars in 2013 when her documentary was nominated. There are several YouTube videos of her on the red carpet and after the awards praising that year's best picture winner, although she referred to it as "Ten Years a Slave" in a Bidenesque gaffe.

There are several more YouTube interviews of her through 2016 after the Tab Hunter documentary was released. I would think the two recent docs would have counted to her benefit as an "active" member.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

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I can tell you that I know someone -- a long-time friend of my wife's -- who I was shocked to find out is (or at least was, before the recent purge) an Academy voter. Her list of film credits is negligible, but, back in the 70s, she was in two films most everyone has seen, and the heavyweight names connected with those films apparently successfully proposed her for membership. As mateo says, some of the people who were revealed as voters during the #Oscarssowhite brouhaha were astounding -- Billy Mumy?

I was pretty sure Mother Dolores lost her membership when they culled the rolls a few years ago. And, though she's a lovely and thoughtful lady (you may recall, I met her during my wife's illness), who took her movie-watching seriously, it really defies the purpose of the Academy for someone who hasn't been actively involved in filmmaking since the Johnson administration to be a factor in choosing winners.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by Big Magilla »

Good point about Marj Dusay, but she was an actress of some distinction outside of films.

The current rule seems to be that the board has to vote on submissions for membership but in the old days, it was done with a recommendation from a member and one or two backers. If someone like Gregory Peck recommended her, she would have gotten in easily. I suppose Woolery could have been recommended by his friend Merv Griffin, a member in good standing, and supported by one or two of Merv's many friends in the Academy.

The interesting thing about the current Memoriam page is that they only list Academy members in good standing. Catherine Burns, who was included in the montage at the Oscars, is not listed, presumably because she wasn't a member.

https://www.oscars.org/about/memoriam
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by Mateo »

As unlikely as it seems, I'm tempted to believe him. I've visited AMPAS's Memoriam page before and have been genuinely surprised by the people listed as former members of the Actors Branch. I recall several instances where the individual had a handful of minor film roles but a laundry list of television appearances in the 60s and 70s.

For example, a peruse down the current memorial list brought me to Marj Dursay. According to IMDB, between 1967 and 1997, she was in less than 10 films with most of her roles seeming to be minor supporting parts. The only substantial performance looks to be her Mrs. MacArthur is 1977's "MacArthur". I haven't seen the film but I assume playing Gregory Peck's wife would've been a somewhat sizable role? Even so, I still can't imagine that alone would warrant Academy membership. In that same 30 year period however, she clocked over 60 TV series.

I've wondered if these members were swept up in President Peck's attempts to modernize the Academy and infuse it with the youth of that era. Perhaps Academy membership was considered more open back then to anyone who had worthwhile careers in the entertainment industry, no matter the medium. Or, on a more cynical note, maybe it was just about who you knew.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

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You don't need to defend Dolores Hart, Magilla, I wasn't dissing her.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

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OscarGuy wrote:I wouldn't doubt it. There's a supposed list of all Academy members, but I cannot seem to find it. Dolores Hart had 11 movie credits and then became a nun and she was a member. I wonder if Roger Ebert had been an Academy member or not. I know he had three writing credits.
Dolores Hart is a living legend who earned her Academy membership. The niece of Mario Lanza, she made her film debut as a child extra in 1947 in Forever Amber, became famous overnight as the first actress to kiss Elvis Presley on screen in Loving You ten years later. She starred in several box office hits including Where the Boys Are and Francis of Assisi, although her personal favorite was Lisa in which she played a tough WWII Jewish concentration camp survivor, the role that gave her the determination to become a nun, not her Saint Claire in Francis of Assisi as is commonly believed.

She is still an Academy member who watches every film nominated for an Oscar, regardless of content, before she votes. She was the focus of the 2012 Oscar nominated documentary, God Is the Bigger Elvis, and last appeared on screen as herself in Tab Hunter Confidential in 2015.

Oscar winner Patricia Neal, who died on her way to visit her in 2010, is buried on the grounds of the cloistered monastery where Dolores Hart, now known as Reverend Mother Dolores Hart, is the prioress.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by Big Magilla »

anonymous1980 wrote:How can someone with that scant and very insignificant film career be a member of the Academy? I don't know whether he's lying, confused (votes for the Emmys and the SAG's and thinks that makes him an Oscar voter) or they had very low standards of membership during the '70s.

Perhaps an older person in the board can shed some light on this?
Chuck Woolery is a vile, contemptible Trump supporter who tweets garbage all day long. Lying or confused would be my guess.
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Re: Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by OscarGuy »

I wouldn't doubt it. There's a supposed list of all Academy members, but I cannot seem to find it. Dolores Hart had 11 movie credits and then became a nun and she was a member. I wonder if Roger Ebert had been an Academy member or not. I know he had three writing credits.
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Chuck Woolery: Academy Member?

Post by anonymous1980 »

I'm on Twitter and though I don't follow him I did stumble on some snide tweets by Chuck Woolery about the Oscars. One of the things he claims is that he is a member of the Academy. I was like, "Really? I only know him as a game show host." So I looked it up on his IMDb page. He only has three feature film credits: A supporting role in an obscure B-level adventure movie, some film with barely any info called The Prize and a role in a studio film where he plays "TV Commentator # 2"....and that's it. How can someone with that scant and very insignificant film career be a member of the Academy? I don't know whether he's lying, confused (votes for the Emmys and the SAG's and thinks that makes him an Oscar voter) or they had very low standards of membership during the '70s.

Perhaps an older person in the board can shed some light on this?
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