The entertainment industry has numerous notable figures in 2025. Hollywood was in shock after the death of director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, with figures across entertainment and politics paying their respects to the “Princess Bride” filmmaker.
The film world was also shaken by the death of “Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks” director David Lynch, with tributes to the visionary filmmaker continuing for weeks. Two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman was found dead with his wife in late February in Santa Fe, N.M., while “Harriet the Spy” star Michelle Trachtenberg died in New York on Feb. 26. “The Doors” and “Top Gun” star Val Kilmer died April 1. The fall brought the major news of the deaths of both Diane Keaton and Robert Redford.
In music, Garth Hudson, the last remaining member of The Band, died in January, while Peter, Paul and Mary lost Peter Yarrow. “Killing Me Softly” singer Roberta Flack died in February, while Sly Stone and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson died in June. Singer Connie Francis, Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne and jazz musician Chuck Mangione died in July.
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Jeff Baena
Image Credit: Getty Images Jeff Baena, a screenwriter and director whose credits include the offbeat comedies “The Little Hours” and “Life After Beth,” died Jan. 3. Baena was the husband of Aubrey Plaza, who starred in his films “The Little Hours,” a 2017 black comedy set in a 14th century convent, and “Life After Beth,” a zombie satire.
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The Vivienne, aka James Lee Williams
Image Credit: Getty Images for VH1/Paramount + “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” winner James Lee Williams, better known by their stage name The Vivienne, died Jan. 5. They were 32.
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Peter Yarrow
Image Credit: (Photo by Al Pereira/Getty Images) Peter Yarrow, one third of the chart-topping 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, co-writer of the song “Puff, the Magic Dragon” and a prominent social activist, died Jan. 7 at his home in New York City.
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Sam Moore
Image Credit: Larry Marano/Getty Images Sam Moore, who had classic hits with the soul duo Sam and Dave in the 1960s, died Jan. 10 in Coral Gables, Florida. He was 89.
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Leslie Charleson
Soap opera icon Leslie Charleson, who for decades played Monica Quartermaine on “General Hospital,” died Jan. 12 after a long illness.
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David Lynch
Image Credit: Getty Images Director-writer David Lynch, who radicalized American film with with a dark, surrealistic artistic vision in films like “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and network television with “Twin Peaks,” died Jan. 15.
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Joan Plowright
Image Credit: Getty Images Joan Plowright, star of “Enchanted April” and the widow of Laurence Oliver, died Jan. 16. She was 95.
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Garth Hudson
Image Credit: Getty Images Garth Hudson, whose fantastical approach to the organ and virtuosity on a panoply of other instruments lent a distinctive touch to the roots-rock of the Canadian-American group the Band, died Jan. 21. He was the last surviving member of The Band.
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Marianne Faithfull
Image Credit: Getty Images Vocalist Marianne Faithfull, whose 1960s sojourn as a swinging London pop star was succeeded by a striking punk-era artistic rebirth, died Jan. 30 in London. She was 78.
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Tony Roberts
Image Credit: Everett Collection Tony Roberts, who appeared in Woody Allen films including “Annie Hall” while enjoying a long, bountiful career on Broadway, died Feb. 7 due to complications of lung cancer.
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Roberta Flack
Image Credit: David Redfern/Getty Images Legendary pop/R&B vocalist Roberta Flack, who was launched to stardom in the early ’70s by the Grammy-winning hits “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” died Feb. 24.
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Michelle Trachtenberg
Image Credit: Getty Images for The Art of Ely Michelle Trachtenberg, the actor best known for film and television roles including “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” died Feb. 26. She was 39.
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Gene Hackman
Image Credit: Getty Images “The French Connection” star Gene Hackman was found dead Feb. 26 in Santa Fe, N.M., along with his wife. He was 95.
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David Johansen
Image Credit: Getty Images David Johansen, the frontman and last surviving member of proto-punk band New York Dolls, who went on to become a lounge singer under the name Buster Poindexter and act in films such as “Scrooged,” died Feb. 28.
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Richard Chamberlain
Image Credit: Getty Images Handsome leading man Richard Chamberlain, who came to prominence in the 1960s medical series “Dr. Kildare” and then became king of the miniseries with such ratings blockbusters as “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” died March 29. He was 90.
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Val Kilmer
Image Credit: ©TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Val Kilmer, who played Bruce Wayne in “Batman Forever,” channeled Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone‘s “The Doors” and starred as a tubercular Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” died April 1 in Los Angeles.
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Ruth Buzzi
Image Credit: FilmMagic Ruth Buzzi, the effervescent Emmy-nominated comedian and voice actor who starred on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” died May 1 at her Texas home, her family announced on Facebook.
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Loretta Swit
Image Credit: Getty Images Loretta Swit, who played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan on seminal TV comedy “MASH,” died May 30 at her home in New York City. She was 87.
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Sly Stone
Image Credit: Getty Images Sly Stone, the multitalented musician whose path-finding, psychedelia-laced funk enraptured Woodstock Nation in the late ’60s and early ’70s, died June 9. He was 82.
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Brian Wilson
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives Brian Wilson, the brilliant musician who codified the California teen lifestyle in a series of ’60s hits by his band the Beach Boys, died June 11. He was 82.
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Bobby Sherman
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Bobby Sherman, a singer and actor who became a quintessential shaggy-haired teen idol of the late 1960s and early ’70s, died June 24 at age 81.
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Michael Madsen
Image Credit: Getty Images Michael Madsen, the actor known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino films including “Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2″ and “Reservoir Dogs,” died July 3.
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Connie Francis
Image Credit: Getty Images Connie Francis, the chart-topping pop singer of ’50s and ’60s classics like “Stupid Cupid,” “Where the Boys Are” and the recently TikTok viral “Pretty Little Baby,” died July 16. She was 87.
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Alan Bergman
Image Credit: WireImage Alan Bergman, the Oscar-, Grammy- and Emmy-winning songwriter whose lyric-writing partnership with his wife Marilyn lasted more than six decades and produced such hits as “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were” and “In the Heat of the Night,” died July 17 at his home in Los Angeles.
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Image Credit: Rich Polk/Getty Images Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theodore “Theo” Huxtable across all eight seasons of “The Cosby Show,” died July 20 in an accidental drowning. He was 54.
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Ozzy Osbourne
Image Credit: Getty Images Ozzy Osbourne, a founding father of British heavy metal, a latter-day solo star and a new-millennium reality TV luminary, died Tuesday after a years long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
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Hulk Hogan
Image Credit: Getty Images Hulk Hogan, the wrestling icon and actor who became the most recognized star in the sport, died July 24. He was 71.
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Chuck Mangione
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives Jazz musician Chuck Mangione, who had one of the biggest pop-jazz instrumental crossover hits of all time with “Feels So Good” in the 1970s, died July 22 at age 84.
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Terence Stamp
Image Credit: GETTY Terence Stamp, who burned brightly as a young actor in the 1960s, with praise heaped upon him for roles in “Billy Budd,” “The Collector” and “Far From the Madding Crowd,” memorably played the villain General Zod in the Superman films and was the highlight of Steven Soderbergh’s “The Limey,” died Auguest 17.
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Graham Greene
Image Credit: Getty Images Graham Greene, the Canadian actor best known for his Oscar-nominated turn in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves,” died Sept. 1 in Toronto after a battle with long illness. He was 73.
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Robert Redford
Image Credit: Getty Images Robert Redford, the leading man with the golden-boy looks who won an Oscar for directing “Ordinary People” and later became a godfather for independent film as founder of the Sundance Film Institute, died Sept. 16 in Utah. He was 89.
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Claudia Cardinale
Image Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Claudia Cardinale, the sexy Italian movie star who appeared in classic Italian films including Fellini’s “8½” and Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers” and “The Leopard,” Sergio Leone’s spaghetti Western “Once Upon a Time in the West,” as well as “The Pink Panther,” died Sept 23. She was 87.
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Diane Keaton
Image Credit: Swan Gallet/WWD Diane Keaton, whose long, versatile career as an actress, producer and director was indelibly highlighted by her Academy Award-winning performance as Woody Allen’s titular love interest in the actor-writer-director’s 1977 romantic comedy “Annie Hall,” died Oct. 11 in Los Angeles. She was 79.
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D’Angelo
Image Credit: (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images) D’Angelo, the legendary R&B singer who helped pioneer the genre of music known as “neo-soul” and is known for such hits as “Lady,” “Brown Sugar” and “Untitled (How Does It Feel?),” died Oct. 14 of cancer. He was 51.
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Samantha Eggar
Image Credit: Getty English-born Samantha Eggar, who was Oscar nominated — and received the Golden Globe and the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival — for her performance in thriller “The Collector” before starring in “Doctor Dolittle” and later David Cronenberg’s early horror masterpiece “The Brood,” died Oct. 15 in Los Angeles. She was 86.
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June Lockhart
Image Credit: Getty Images June Lockhart, a popular actress of the 1950s and ’60s known for her roles in “Lost In Space,” “Lassie” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” died of natural causes on Oct. 23 in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 100.
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Diane Ladd
Image Credit: CBS via Getty Images Diane Ladd, a three-time Oscar-nominated actress for her roles in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Wild at Heart” and “Rambling Rose,” died Nov. 3 at her home in Ojai, Calif. Ladd was 89.
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Sally Kirkland
Image Credit: Getty Images Sally Kirkland, the effervescent blonde actress who was Oscar-nominated for the independent film “Anna” in 1987, died Nov. 11 in Palm Springs.
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Anthony Geary
Image Credit: Getty Images Anthony Geary, an eight-time Daytime Emmy winner for playing Luke Spencer on the long-running soap opera “General Hospital,” died Dec. 14 due to complications from a medical procedure. He was 78.
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Rob Reiner
Image Credit: Getty Images Rob Reiner, who segued from starring in “All in the Family” to directing movies including “This Is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men” and “When Harry Met Sally…” was found stabbed to death on Dec. 14 in his Brentwood home alongside his wife Michele Singer.
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Brigitte Bardot
Image Credit: Courtesy of Getty Images Actor, singer, sex symbol and style icon Brigitte Bardot, who retired from acting and became controversial for her right-wing politics in her later years, died Dec. 28. She was 91.
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Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Image Credit: Variety via Getty Images Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor best known for playing the corrupt state senator Clay Davis on “The Wire,” died Dec. 30 in New York.
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