Morgan Freeman remembered late actor Gene Hackman in a touching tribute before the In Memoriam segment.
“This week, our community lost a giant, and I lost a dear friend, Gene Hackman,” Freeman said, adding that Hackman had “received two Oscars, but more importantly, he won the hearts of film lovers all over the world.”
He continued, “Gene always said, ‘I don’t think about legacy. I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work.'”
“I think I speak for us all when I say, Gene, you will be remembered for that and so much more,” he concluded. “Rest in peace, my friend.”
Freeman then introduced the In Memoriam segment, remembering lives lost over the last year.
Names highlighted in the segment included Gena Rowlands, Maggie Smith, filmmaker Jeff Baena, Bob Newhart, Kris Kristofferson, Teri Garr, Cheng Pei-Pei, John Amos, Bill Cobbs, Joan Plowright, Anouk Aimée, Donald Sutherland, Art Evans, songwriter Richard M. Sherman, Louis Gossett Jr., producer Jon Landau, Shelley Duvall, director David Lynch, James Earl Jones.