The Oscars' In Memoriam featured a woman who is really alive

Culture

While the best picture gaffe of the 2017 Oscars is the mistake everyone is talking about, another blunder took place at the Feb. 26 ceremony: The In Memoriam segment featured the photograph of a woman who is not dead. 

The segment, which honored notable celebrities and artists who died in 2016, was introduced by Jennifer Aniston, who teared up mentioning Bill Paxton, who passed away Sunday morning. It also featured Sara Bareilles singing a moving cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now." 

However, the segment showed the wrong photograph. 

Janet Patterson, who passed away in October, was a four-time Oscar-nominated costume designer for her work on The Piano, The Portrait of a Lady, Oscar and Lucinda and Bright Star. The photo featured in the segment was of Jan Chapman, an Australian producer who is still alive. 

Chapman and Patterson had collaborated on The Piano. 

"I was devastated by the use of my image in place of my great friend and long-time collaborator Janet Patterson," Chapman told Variety. "I had urged her agency to check any photograph which might be used and understand that they were told that the Academy had it covered. 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."

The academy has not commented on the mistake. 

Mic has ongoing coverage of the Oscars. Please follow our main Oscars hub here.