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One cannot understate the strange cultural dominance Hugh Wilson's 1984 comedy "Police Academy" held over the pop zeitgeist throughout the 1980s. Clearly a child of "Animal House," "Police Academy" was a traditional snobs-vs.-slobs comedy that pitted winking wiseacres against their stern commanding officers at a police school in an unnamed city. I've long had a theory that the "Police Academy" movies take place in Metropolis, the city where Superman lives. With Superman taking care of major crimes, the local police force would likely become complacent, unused to enforcing the law. 

None of the "Police Academy" movies were well-reviewed, recognized by critics as crass, dumb, and low-brow. This is a series that banks on misogyny, offensive stereotypes, and a lot of crotch/sex humor. There is no wit to the "Police Academy" movies. Roger Ebert famously gave the first film zero stars, citing merely how dreadfully unfunny and uninspired it is.

Who will be included for the special “In Memoriam” segment for Sunday night’s Oscars 2022 ceremony? For almost all other Academy Awards productions since the 1990s, producers typically select 40-50 people from the various branches. The 2021 segment had close to 100 people in a particularly fast-paced three minutes that was not very well-received since many of them were only on screen for a second or two.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2022: In Memoriam Gallery

Previous Oscar winners from acting categories passing away since last year’s late April ceremony are Olympia Dukakis, William Hurt and Sidney Poitier. Past acting nominees include Ned Beatty, Sally Kellerman and Dean Stockwell.

Almost all of the dozens on the list below were Academy members, previous nominees/winners or both.

Louie Anderson (actor)

Ed Asner (actor)

Ned Beatty (actor)

Marilyn Bergman (composer)

Val Bisoglio (actor)

Robert Blalack (visual effects)

Peter Bogdanovich (director)

David Brenner (editor)

Leslie Bricusse (composer...

Art Metrano, who played the officer Ernie Mauser in two Police Academy sequels and was a familiar face on episodic TV before a serious injury sustained in a home accident derailed his career in 1989, died of natural causes yesterday at his home in Aventura, Florida. He was 84.

“Yesterday I lost my best friend, my mentor, my dad,” Metrano’s son Harry Metrano posted today on Instagram. “He was and will always be the toughest man I know. I have never met someone who has over come more adversities than him…”

Metrano had already made appearances on such late-’60s TV series as Mannix, Mod Squad, The High Chaparral, Then Came Bronson, nearly a half-dozen episodes of Bewitched and in the 1969 Jane Fonda feature film They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? when a 1970 stand-up comedy performance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson significantly boosted his profile. To Carson’s obvious delight,...

Art Metrano, the stand-up comedian with a mock magic act who was the butt of jokes as the pompous cop boss Ernie Mauser in the second and third Police Academy films, has died. He was 84.

Metrano died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Aventura, Florida, his son Harry told The Hollywood Reporter.

The curly-haired Brooklyn native also played Rico Mastorelli, who managed nephew Chachi (Scott Baio), Joanie (Erin Moran) and their rock band, on the 1982-83 ABC sitcom Joanie Loves Chachi, a spinoff of Happy Days.

On Sept. 17, 1989, Metrano fell off a ladder while working on the roof of his Los Angeles home,...

Art Metrano, the stand-up comedian with a mock magic act who was the butt of jokes as the pompous cop boss Ernie Mauser in the second and third Police Academy films, has died. He was 84.

Metrano died Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Aventura, Florida, his son Harry told The Hollywood Reporter.

The curly-haired Brooklyn native also played Rico Mastorelli, who managed nephew Chachi (Scott Baio), Joanie (Erin Moran) and their rock band, on the 1982-83 ABC sitcom Joanie Loves Chachi, a spinoff of Happy Days.

On Sept. 17, 1989, Metrano fell off a ladder while working on the roof of his Los Angeles home,...