Emmy Awards in Memoriam Honors Stan Lee, Luke Perry and More

The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards is taking place tonight, Sunday, September 22 at Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles recognizing excellence in the television industry. In addition to bestowing honors for some of the best performances and programs on the small screen over the past year, each year the Emmys also takes time during their awards ceremony to honor and remember the influential and beloved figures in the television industry that we sadly lost of the past year and this year is no different. Tonight’s Emmy Awards In Memoriam paid tribute to several lost stars, including Marvel legend Stan Lee, Riverdale‘s Luke Perry, and more.

Introduced by Watchmen star Regina King, the In Memoriam tribute featured Halsey singing a rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” while images of the dearly departed played on screen behind her including Descendants star Cameron Boyce, director John Singleton, Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer, and more in addition to Perry and Lee.

Lee passed away November 12, 2018 at the age of 95 after a lifetime of molding and shaping the Marvel Universe in comics as well as on screens both large and small. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige honored Lee during last week’s Saturn Awards as well, sharing a sweet story about Lee during the filming of one of Lee’s famous cameo scenes.

“I’m incredibly humbled that I’m receiving an award named after a man who can only be described as a genius,” Feige said. “Stan was incredibly proud of the MCU cameos. I would remind him that he also co-created all these characters and he’d sort of brush that off and go, ‘Yes, but these cameos!’ I remember one time he was going to shoot soon after lunch and just before lunch I look around and the crew’s not there and I realized they’ve all gone down to the comic shop to buy comics for Stan to sign. And If you’ve met Stan you know that, of course, he stayed there and he signed every one and he talked to each member of the crew. He was infused with humanity and kindness. He put that into every creation he had, which is why they all still resonate today and will resonate, I believe, for centuries to come.”

Known for his iconic role of Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210 as well as his role as Fred Andrews on The CW’s Riverdale, Perry passed away in March at the age of 52 after suffering a massive stroke. Following his death, much of Hollywood shared an outpouring of fond memories of Perry, remembering him for his kindness and generosity. The tributes to Perry will continue when Riverdale returns for its fourth season in a few weeks as the season premiere is set to not only resolve his character’s role on the popular series, but honor Perry as well.

“Everything in that first episode is so authentic and so real that it didn’t really feel like shooting an episode of our show… it was obviously really emotional,” Perry’s Riverdale co-star KJ Apa recently revealed. “It’s a beautiful episode; we still have a lot to shoot for it… I’m super excited for people to see it.”

The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards take place tonight at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and airing on Fox.