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Richard Kahn, Former President of the Motion Picture Academy, Dies at 95
After establishing the Nominees Luncheon as a branch member, he took some heat for the 1989 Oscars, known for its cringeworthy Rob Lowe-Snow White musical number.
It included dancing tables, Merv Griffin singing his 1950 hit “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” and a parade of aging screen stars before Lowe (who had never sung publicly) and Snow White performed a version of “Proud Mary.” Later, 17 prominent Hollywood figures, including Julie Andrews, Stanley Donen, Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin, Larry Gelbart, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Paul Newman, Gregory Peck and Billy Wilder, wrote a letter saying the whole thing “was an embarrassment to both the Academy and the entire motion picture industry. At Columbia, he helped market such top-notch films as The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957), The Guns of Navarone(1961), Lawrence of Arabia(1962), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(1964), A Man for All Seasons(1966), Funny Girl(1968) and Oliver!
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