Don't even mention the name Carmine Caridi.
That was apparently the Academy's policy in its press release stating that the board of governors on Tuesday expelled "an Academy member for violating his agreement to safeguard voting screeners sent to him."
Acad exec director Bruce Davis on Wednesday said the ex-member would be messengered a letter within hours notifying him of immediate expulsion.
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in the past has expelled members, "our practice has been to not release the name," Davis said. Org usually does not alert the media to board actions, but "there was a lot of press interest" in the matter of screeners.
No one at the Academy would confirm that it was Caridi. However, the 70-year-old actor has admitted supplying his screening cassettes to Illinois resident Russell Sprague, despite signing an agreement in which members vowed "not to allow them to be reproduced in any fashion and not to sell them or to give them away at any time."
Caridi is being sued by Sony and Warner Bros., which allege copyright infringement; their films ended up on the Internet. Sprague is also mentioned in the suits.
AMPAS has occasionally KO'd members over selling or giving away Oscar tickets; the most recent case occurred with one member last year. As usual, the Acad didn't notify the press or supply the name of the guilty party.
This new expulsion marks the first time someone has been nixed over screeners, as Acad voters had never before been asked to sign such an agreement.
Contact Timothy M. Gray at
tim.gray@variety.com