Dead woman in Oscars memoriam montage not actually dead

A “dead” woman featured in the Oscar’s memoriam montage is still alive!

The Oscar’s In Memoriam montage honored filmmakers, actors and others in the industry who passed away in 2016. Among those film luminaries was Australian costumer designer Janet Patterson. However, the Academy made a huge mistake when they pictured a very much alive Jan Chapman instead.

“I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson,” Chapman wrote in an email to Variety.

Prior to the awards, Chapman had urged Patterson’s agency to make sure they had the correct photograph for the montage. She had been assured that the Academy had everything covered.

But Chapman said, “Janet was a great beauty and four-time Oscar nominee and it is very disappointing that the error was not picked up. I am alive and well and an active producer.”

Of course this was not the only mistake made by the Academy last night. When announcing who won Best Picture, Faye Dunaway named La La Land.

The mix up was corrected a few minutes later. Moonlight had actually won the award.