Remembering the celebrities we lost in 2025 – National

Farewells are a natural part of life. While we often grieve family and close friends, we can also mourn people we never met who still left a lasting impression on our lives through their creativity and influence.

Throughout 2025, the world said goodbye to a group of individuals whose talents inspired millions around the world. From musicians who provided the soundtrack to our lives to actors who brought unforgettable stories to the big screen and public figures whose words and work resonated, their legacies will continue to live on.

Among them were Canadians Graham Greene and Garth Hudson, stars of the screen Gene Hackman, Diane Keaton and Rob Reiner, and influential musicians Ozzy Osbourne and Angie Stone.

We’re taking the time to celebrate the legacy of this group of people by remembering some of the celebrities we lost in 2025.

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Indie filmmaker Jeff Baena, who was married to his frequent creative collaborator Aubrey Plaza, died on Jan. 3 at the age of 47.

Baena co-wrote David O. Russell’s 2004 film I Heart Huckabees and wrote and directed five of his own films, mostly dark comedies. Plaza starred in his directorial debut, the 2014 zombie comedy Life After Beth, and appeared in two of his other films: The Little Hours and Spin Me Round.

Former Scientology executive and whistleblower Mike Rinder died on Jan. 5 at the age of 69.

Before Rinder left the Church of Scientology in 2007 and became a whistleblower pulling back the curtain on its inner workings, he served in various executive roles within the church including the international spokesperson, head of the Office of Special Affairs and a member of the Board of Directors of the Church of Scientology International.

After leaving Scientology behind at the age of 52, he became a cutting critic of the organization, co-hosting Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath for three seasons, where he exposed alleged widespread abuse and harassment. When the docuseries ended, he and Remini continued to speak out about the church in their Scientology: Fair Game podcast.

Peter Yarrow, the singer-songwriter best known as one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, died on Jan.7 at the age of 86.

Peter, Paul and Mary’s harmonies transfixed millions as they lifted their voices in favour of civil rights and against war. Yarrow co-wrote the folk-music trio’s song, Puff the Magic Dragon.

During an incredible run of success spanning the 1960s, Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers released six Billboard Top 10 singles, two No. 1 albums and won five Grammys.

After an eight-year hiatus to pursue solo careers, the trio reunited in 1978 for “Survival Sunday,” an anti-nuclear-power concert that Yarrow had organized in Los Angeles. They would remain together until Travers’ death in 2009. Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform both separately and together.

Sam Moore, the higher voice of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave that was known for such definitive hits of the era as Soul Man and Hold On, I’m Comin, died on Jan. 10 at the age of 89.

At the Memphis, Tenn.-based Stax Records, Moore and Dave Prater ranked only behind Otis Redding as the label’s biggest stars. They recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, which also included You Don’t Know Like I Know, When Something is Wrong With My Baby and I Thank You.

Moore was inducted with Prater into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

Bob Uecker, the voice of his hometown Milwaukee Brewers who after a short playing career earned the moniker “Mr. Baseball” and honours from the Hall of Fame, died on Jan. 16 at the age of 90.

Uecker was best known as a colourful comedian and broadcaster who earned his nickname during one of his numerous appearances on Johnny Carson’s late night show.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Uecker signed his first professional contract with the Milwaukee Braves in 1956 and reached the majors in 1962. He’d last six seasons in the big leagues as a backup catcher, finishing with a .200 average and 14 homers. He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 1964 and also played for Atlanta and Philadelphia.

David Lynch, the four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker and creator of the television series Twin Peaks, died on Jan. 16 at the age of 78.

His notable releases range from Mulholland Drive to Blue Velvet to Twin Peaks, which won three Golden Globes, two Emmys and even a Grammy for its theme music.

Lynch received nominations for directing The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive and, in 2019, was presented with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement.

His other credits included the crime story Wild at Heart, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and The Straight Story.

Garth Hudson, The Band’s virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician who added a conversational touch to such rock standards as Up on Cripple Creek, The Weight and Rag Mama Rag, died on Jan. 21 at the age of 87.

Hudson was the eldest and last surviving member of the influential group that once backed Bob Dylan. Hudson was a classically-trained performer and self-educated Greek chorus who spoke through piano, synthesizers, horns and his favoured Lowrey organ.

Hudson also organized his own projects, although his first solo effort, The Sea to the North, came out on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2005, he formed a 12-piece band called The Best!, with his wife on vocals. Garth Hudson Presents: A Canadian Celebration of The Band was a 2010 tribute featuring Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn and other Canadian musicians.

Marianne Faithfull, the British pop star, muse, libertine and old soul who inspired and helped write some of the Rolling Stones’ greatest songs, died on Jan. 30 at the age of 78.

She and Mick Jagger began seeing each other in 1966 and she helped inspire such Stones songs as the mellow tribute She Smiled Sweetly and the lustful Let’s Spend the Night Together.

On her own, the London-born Faithfull specialized at first in genteel ballads, among them Come Stay With Me, Summer Nights and This Little Bird. Other albums included Dangerous Acquaintances, Strange Weather, the live Blazing Away and, most recently, She Walks in Beauty.

Tony Roberts

Tony Roberts, a Tony Award-nominated theatre performer in both plays and musicals, died on Feb. 7 at the age of 85.

Roberts originated roles in such diverse Broadway musicals as How Now, Dow Jones, Sugar, Some Like It Hot, and Victor/Victoria, in which he co-starred with Julie Andrews when she returned to Broadway in the stage version of her popular film.

Roberts also appeared on Broadway in the 1966 Woody Allen comedy Don’t Drink the Water, repeating his role in the film version, and in Allen’s Play It Again, Sam, for which he also made the movie.

Other Allen films Roberts appeared were Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters and Radio Days.

Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on Killing Me Softly with His Song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and other hits made her one of the top recording artists of the 1970s, died on Feb. 24 at the age of 88.

Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film, Play Misty for Me.

Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included the cozy Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.

In the mid-’90s, Flack received renewed attention after the Fugees recorded a Grammy-winning cover of  Killing Me Softly,  which she eventually performed on stage with the hip-hop group.

Overall, she won five Grammys (three for  Killing Me Softly ), was nominated eight other times, and received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020, with John Legend and Ariana Grande among those praising her.

Michelle Trachtenberg, known for her roles on TV series Gossip Girl and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died on Feb. 26 at the age of 39.

Trachtenberg was eight years old when she began playing Nona Mecklenberg on Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete, from 1994 to 1996, then starred in the title role in the film adaptations of Harriet the Spy and Inspector Gadget, opposite Matthew Broderick.

In 2000, Trachtenberg joined the cast of Buffy, playing Dawn Summers, the younger sister of the title character, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, from 2000 to 2003.

In 2001, she received a Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting Discovery’s Truth or Scare. Trachtenberg went on to recurring roles on Six Feet Under, Weeds and Gossip Girl, where she played the gang’s scheming nemesis, Georgina Sparks.

Oscar winner Gene Hackman, who was also a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for The French Connection in 1972, died on Feb. 18 at the age of 95.

Hackman’s first starring role came in 1970 with I Never Sang for My Father, as a man struggling to cope with his failing relationship with his dying father.

Hackman was a frequent and versatile presence on screen from the 1960s until his retirement. His dozens of films included the Academy Award favourites Unforgiven, a breakout performance in Bonnie and Clyde, a classic bit of farce in Young Frankenstein, a turn as the comic book villain Lex Luthor in Superman and the title character in Wes Anderson’s 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums.

Grammy-nominated R&B singer Angie Stone, a member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence and known for the hit song Wish I Didn’t Miss You, died on March 1. She was 63.

The singer-songwriter created hits like No More Rain (In This Cloud) which reached No. 1 for 10 weeks on Billboard’s Adult R&B airplay chart; Baby with legendary soul singer Betty Wright, another No. 1 hit; and Wish I Didn’t Miss You and Brotha.

She also helped form The Sequence, the first all-female group on the hip-hop trailblazing imprint Sugar Hill Records, becoming one of the first female groups to record a rap song. The group recorded Funk You Up, which has been sampled by numerous artists, including Dr. Dre.

After finding success in the early 1980s, Stone later joined the trio Vertical Hold before launching her solo career.

Carl Thomas Dean, Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, died on March 3 at the age of 82.

Parton met Dean — who famously avoided the spotlight throughout their lengthy marriage — outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville when she was 18. They got married two years later, on May 30, 1966, in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Ga., and kept their marriage very private over the years.

Dean was a businessman, having owned an asphalt paving business in Nashville.

In 2008, Parton told NPR that Dean inspired her classic song Jolene, and she said she wrote the song about a flirty bank teller who seemed to have taken an interest in Dean.

Pamela Bach, an actor and the ex-wife of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, died on March 5 at the age of 61.

Also known as Pamela Hasselhoff, Bach appeared on The Young and the Restless and met her future husband on the set of his series, Knight Rider. She also appeared on several episodes of Baywatch.

Bach and Hasselhoff were married in December 1989, and had two daughters, Taylor and Hayley.

George Foreman, who became the heavyweight champion of the world in his 20s, died on March 21 at the age of 76.

Foreman began his boxing career as an Olympic gold medalist who inspired fear and awe as he reached the pinnacle of the heavyweight division, stopping Joe Frazier in 1973.

The fearsome heavyweight, who lost the “Rumble in the Jungle” to Muhammad Ali before his inspiring second act as a surprising champion and a successful businessman, became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at the age of 45 in 1994.

Outside the ring, he was best known as the face of the George Foreman Grill, which sold more than 100 million units and made him much wealthier than his sport ever did.

Richard Chamberlain, who starred in the 1960s medial drama Dr. Kildare, died on March 29 at the age of 90.

The actor became known as “king of the TV miniseries” in 1978 when he landed the starring role in Centennial. He followed that in 1980 with Shogun, another costly, epic miniseries based on James Clavell’s period piece about an American visitor to Japan.

He scored his greatest miniseries success in 1983 with another long-form drama, The Thorn Birds, based on Colleen McCullough’s best-seller.

Chamberlain won Golden Globes for his work in Shogun and The Thorn Birds. Years earlier, he received one for Dr. Kildare.

He also appeared in numerous films, including The Music Lovers (as Tchaikovsky), The Madwoman of Chaillot, The Towering Inferno and The Three Musketeers and its sequels.

Val Kilmer, the actor who played fan favourite Iceman in Top Gun, donned a voluminous cape as Batman in Batman Forever and portrayed Jim Morrison in The Doors, died on April 1. He was 65.

His break came in 1984’s spy spoof Top Secret! followed by the comedy Real Genius in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including MacGruber and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

In the early 1990s, Kilmer made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s Tombstone, as Elvis’ ghost in True Romance and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film Heat with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.

George Wendt, who played Norm on the hit 1980s TV comedy Cheers and later crafted a stage career that took him to Broadway in Art, Hairspray and Elf, died on May 20. He was 76.

Despite a long career of roles on stage and on TV, it was that of Norm Peterson on Cheers with which he was most associated, earning six straight Emmy Award nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy series from 1984-89.

After Cheers, Wendt starred in his own short-lived sitcom The George Wendt Show and had guest spots on TV shows like The Ghost Whisperer, Harry’s Law and Portlandia. He was part of a brotherhood of Chicago Everymen who gathered over sausage and beers and adored “Da Bears” on Saturday Night Live.

But he found steady work onstage: Wendt slipped on Edna Turnblad’s housecoat in Broadway’s Hairspray beginning in 2007, and was in the Tony Award-winning play Art in New York and London.

Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson died on May 25 at the age of 79.

Phil and his extended family became wealthy manufacturing duck calls — called Duck Commander — and were turned into TV and pop culture stars by Duck Dynasty, which has set cable ratings records for a non-fiction series.

The series ran for 11 seasons before the family announced the show was coming to an end.

Actor Jonathan Joss, best known for voicing John Redcorn in King of the Hill, died on June 1 at the age of 59.

Joss starred on King of the Hill in seasons 2 through 13. He also played Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation and had roles in Tulsa King and the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven.

According to Variety, Joss had already recorded lines for the upcoming King of the Hill revival, set to air this August, and his character can be seen in promo materials for the reboot.

Former MuchMusic and MusiquePlus host Juliette Powell died on June 3 at the age of 54.

Born in New York in 1970, Powell got her start in the spotlight at a young age, spending time on the pageant circuit and as a model after moving to Montreal with her mother at the age of eight.

In 1989, at the age of 18, she made history as the first Black Canadian to be crowned Miss Canada, earning her a chance to represent Canada at the Miss Universe pageant.

In 1992, she joined MusiquePlus as a VJ, hosting the dance music show Bouge de là!, before moving over to sister station MuchMusic in 1996 and hosting both French Kiss and Electric Circus.

Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and ’70s and beyond with such hits as Everyday People, Stand! and Family Affair, died on June 9. He was 82.

From early songs as rousing as their titles — I Want To Take You Higher, Stand! — to the aftermath of Family Affair and Runnin’ Away, Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say.

Sly and the Family Stone broke up in 1983 and Sly was releasing solo records like Heard You Missed Me, Well I’m Back and Back On the Right Track. ‘

Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honoured in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early ’80s, I’m Back! Family & Friends.

Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ co-founder whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired Good Vibrations, California Girls and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists died on June 11 at the age of 82.

The eldest and last surviving member of the revered musical trio founded by three Californian brothers — Brian played bass, Carl, lead guitar and Dennis drums — the group rose to fame in the 1960s, ascending industry ranks from local band to international symbols of surf and sun.

Wilson was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock’s great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection.

Chef and TV personality Anne Burrell, who coached culinary novices through hundreds of episodes of Worst Cooks in America, died on June 18 at 55.

“Anne was a remarkable person and culinary talent — teaching, competing and always sharing the importance of food in her life and the joy that a delicious meal can bring,” the Food Network, where Burrell began her two-decade television career, said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with Anne’s family, friends and fans during this time of tremendous loss.”

Burrell made TV appearances as recently as April, including one in which she made chicken Milanese cutlets topped with escarole salad on NBC’s Today show. She faced off against other top chefs on the Food Network’s House of Knives earlier in the spring.

Bobby Sherman, whose winsome smile and fashionable shaggy mop top helped make him into a teen idol in the 1960s and ’70s with bubblegum pop hits like Little Woman and Julie, Do Ya Love Me, died on June 24 at the age of 81.

Sherman was a regular on the covers of Tiger Beat and Sixteen magazines, often with hair over his eyes and a choker wrapped around his neck. A ubiquitous pop-culture icon, his face was plastered on lunchboxes, cereal boxes and posters. He landed at No. 8 in TV Guide’s list of “TV’s 25 Greatest Teen Idols.”

Sherman had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — Little Woman, Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Easy Come, Easy Go, and La La La (If I Had You). He had six albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including Here Comes Bobby, which spent 48 weeks on the album chart, peaking at No. 10.

His career got its jump start when he was cast in the ABC rock ’n’ roll show Shindig! in the mid-60s. Later, he starred in two television series — Here Come the Brides (1968-70) and Getting Together (1971).

Michael Madsen, best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, died on July 3. He was 67.

His sister, Virginia Madsen in a statement to Variety, described her brother as, “Thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother — etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”

Madsen’s career included more than 300 credits, including roles in Donnie Brasco, Thelma & Louise, Free Willy, Sin City and Die Another Day.

His most memorable screen moment may have been the sadistic torture of a captured police officer, while dancing to Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle with You — as Mr. Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.

He went on to become a Quentin Tarantino regular, appearing in The Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and other films.

Connie Francis

Connie Francis, who emerged as a wholesome pop star in the 1950s with hits such as Pretty Little Baby and Who’s Sorry Now, died on July 16 at age 87.

Francis gained renewed attention in the months before her death after Pretty Little Baby became a viral TikTok hit, with Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner among the many celebrities citing it.

“I’m flabbergasted and excited about the huge buzz my 1962 recording of Pretty Little Baby is making all over the world,” she said in a video on TikTok, which she had joined in response to the song’s unexpected revival.

Able to appeal to both young people and adults, Francis had more than a dozen Top 20 hits, including Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You and The Heart Has a Mind of Its Own. Like other teen icons of her time, she also starred in several films, including Where the Boys Are and Follow the Boys.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, a star of ’80s and ’90s television best known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, died on July 20 at the age of 54.

Warner played Theo Huxtable for all eight seasons of The Cosby Show, which ran from 1984 to 1992. He was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards for the role.

He also starred with Eddie Griffin in the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie from 1996 to 2000, and he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines.

He starred in the medical drama The Resident for five of the show’s six seasons.

Warner’s film roles include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

In 2015, Warner won his first Grammy for his work on Robert Glasper’s Jesus Children. He was also nominated for best spoken word poetry album in 2022 for Hiding in Plain View.

Rock icon and Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22, his family announced in a statement. He was 76.

Just over two weeks before his death, Osbourne delivered his last live performance with the original lineup of Black Sabbath at Villa Park soccer stadium in their home city of Birmingham, central England, on July 5.

Osbourne formed Black Sabbath in 1968 in Birmingham. The band released their self-titled debut and Paranoid in 1970, Master of Reality in 1971, Vol. 4 in 1972, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in 1973.

Osbourne’s fame expanded into the mainstream in the early 2000s, when he joined longtime wife Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack, in the MTV reality TV show The Osbournes, which ran from 2002 to 2005.

Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan died on July 24 at the age of 71.

Hogan was a fixture of the WWE franchise and the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985. During his tenure, he faced everyone from Andre the Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.

He won six WWF/WWE championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Sylvester Stallone.

He was able to transcend his “Hulkamania” fan base to become a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a VH1 reality show about his life, Hogan Knows Best.

Hogan became a household name after he starred as the wrestler Thunderlips in Rocky III, eclipsing lead actor Sylvester Stallone. He also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine and performed alongside pop culture stars like Mr. T.

Chuck Mangione

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Two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavoured single Feels So Good and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy King of the Hill, died on July 24. He was 84.

One of his biggest hits — Feels So Good — is a staple on most smooth jazz radio stations and has been called one of the most recognized melodies since Michelle by the Beatles. It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

He followed that hit with Give It All You Got, commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, and he performed it at the closing ceremony.

Mangione, a flugelhorn trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizable following by writing all the material.

He won his first Grammy Award in 1977 for his album Bellavia, which was named in honour of his mother. He earned a Best Original Score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie The Children of Sanchez.

Loni Anderson

Loni Anderson, who played a struggling radio station’s empowered receptionist on the hit TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati, died on Aug. 2, just days before her 80th birthday.

The show aired from 1978 to 1982 and was set at a flagging Ohio radio station trying to reinvent itself through rock music.

The role earned Anderson two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe nominations.

Anderson starred on the big screen alongside Burt Reynolds in the 1983 comedy Stroker Ace, and the two later married and became tabloid fixtures before their messy breakup in 1994.

Terence Stamp, the British actor who often played complex villains, including General Zod in the early Superman films, died on Aug. 17 at the age of 87.

The London-born actor began acting on stage before landing a role in 1962’s seafaring Billy Budd, for which he earned Oscar and BAFTA award nominations.

His six decades in the business were peppered with highlights, including his touching portrayal of the trans woman Bernadette in 1994’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, for which he received his second BAFTA nomination.

His portrayal of the bearded Zod in 1978’s Superman and its sequel, Superman II, two years later, is what most people associate with Stamp. As the Kryptonian archenemy of Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel, Stamp introduced a darker, charming, and more human element to the franchise, one that’s been replicated in countless superhero movies ever since.

Oscar-nominated Canadian actor Graham Greene, who broke through with memorable roles across several genres at a time when the entertainment industry shunned Indigenous talent, died on Sept. 1 at the age of 73.

The actor, who was born in Ohsweken, Ont., and is from the Six Nations Reserve, starred in a steady stream of film, television and theatre projects from the late 1970s onward.

He earned an Oscar nomination for the supporting role of Kicking Bird in the 1990 film Dances With Wolves, an American western co-starring and directed by Kevin Costner that won best picture.

In 2024, he won a Canadian Screen Award for his portrayal of himself in the comedy thriller Seeds, directed by Kaniehtiio Horn.

Greene was awarded the Governor General’s award for lifetime artistic achievement in June and received the Order of Canada in 2015.

Giorgio Armani, a stalwart of Milan ready-to-wear who revolutionized fashion with unstructured looks, died at the age of 91 on Sept. 4.

Starting with an unlined jacket, a simple pair of pants and an urban palette, Armani put Italian ready-to-wear style on the international fashion map in the late 1970s, creating an instantly recognizable relaxed silhouette that has propelled the fashion house for half a century.

From the executive office to the Hollywood screen, Armani dressed the rich and famous in classic tailored styles, fashioned in super-soft fabrics and muted tones. His handsome black-tie outfits and glittering evening gowns often stole the show on award season red carpets.

So significant was the impact of Armani’s style, not only on how people dressed but also on how they approached fashion, that in 2000 the Guggenheim Museum in New York presented a retrospective of Armani’s first 25 years in fashion.

Robert Redford, actor and Oscar-winning director, died on Sept. 16. He was 89.

After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s with such films as The Candidate, All the President’s Men and The Way We Were, capping that decade with the best director Oscar for 1980’s Ordinary People, which also won best picture in 1980.

His roles ranged from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward to a mountain man in Jeremiah Johnson to a double agent in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his co-stars included Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.

Redford, an indie champion but a mainstream star, is credited with creating the Sundance Institute and film festival to nurture new talent away from the pressures of Hollywood. To this day, the festival, based in Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah, is a bona fide staple for burgeoning and established filmmakers alike and is credited for transforming Park City into a place of discovery for previously unknown filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson and Darren Aronofsky.

Sonny Curtis, a vintage rock ‘n’ roller who wrote the raw classic I Fought the Law and posed the enduring question “Who can turn the world on with her smile?” as the writer-crooner of the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died on Sept. 20 at the age of 88.

Curtis, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets in 2012, wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs, from Keith Whitley’s country smash I’m No Stranger to the Rain to the Everly Brothers’ Walk Right Back.

In the 1950s, Curtis opened for Elvis Presley when the king of Rock’ n’ Roll was still a regional act. Curtis’ songwriting touch also soon emerged: Before he turned 20, he had written the hit Someday for Webb Pierce and Rock Around With Ollie Vee for his childhood friend Buddy Holly.

Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James died on Sept. 18. He was 57.

James, known for songs like Jesus, Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood, who described James as “the epitome of cool,” and When the Sun Goes Down by Kenny Chesney, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020.

James had more than 500 of his songs recorded, for albums that sold more than 110 million copies, according to his Grand Ole Opry biography online.

Scientist and global activist Jane Goodall, who turned her childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest for protecting the environment, died on Oct. 1 at the age of 91.

Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work on primate behaviour. She paved the way for a string of other women to follow suit, including the late Dian Fossey.

She also drew the public into the wild, partnering with the National Geographic Society to bring her beloved chimps into their lives through film, TV and magazines.

As her career evolved, she shifted her focus from primatology to climate advocacy after witnessing widespread habitat destruction, urging the world to take immediate action on climate change.

In 2003, she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire, and, in 2025, she received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall, The Godfather films and Father of the Bride, whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, died on Oct. 11. She was 79.

Keaton was the kind of actor who helped make films iconic and timeless, from her “La-dee-da, la-dee-da” phrasing as Annie Hall, bedecked in that necktie, bowler hat, vest and khakis, to her heartbreaking turn as Kay Adams, the woman unfortunate enough to join the Corleone family.

After her star-making performances in the 1970s, many of which were in Woody Allen films, she would continue to charm new generations for decades, thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers.

Keaton won her first Oscar for Annie Hall and would go on to be nominated three more times, for Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.

Grammy award-winning R&B singer D’Angelo died on Oct. 13. He was 51.

The Untitled (How Does It Feel) singer, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut studio album Brown Sugar earlier this year. The platinum-selling album offering featured signature hits like Lady and the title track. The 1995 album earned him multiple Grammy nominations and cemented him as one of R&B’s most original new voices.

Beyond his own catalogue, D’Angelo’s artistry shone in collaborations. He memorably duetted with Lauryn Hill on the soulful ballad Nothing Even Matters, a highlight of her landmark 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band KISS, who captivated audiences with his elaborate makeup and smoke-filled guitar, died on Oct. 16. He was 74.

KISS, whose hits include Rock and Roll All Nite and Detroit Rock City, was known for its intense stage shows, which featured fireworks, smoke and eruptions of fake blood performed by band members in black-and-white-painted faces, platform boots and black wigs.

KISS’ original lineup included Frehley, singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, tongue-wagging bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss. Frehley’s is the first death among the four founding members.

The New York-born entertainer and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer often experimented with pyrotechnics, making his guitars glow, emit smoke and shoot rockets from the headstock.

Diane Ladd, the three-time Academy Award nominee whose roles ranged from the brash waitress in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore to the protective mother in Wild at Heart, died on Nov. 3. She was 89.

A gifted comic and dramatic performer, Ladd had a long career in television and on stage before breaking through as a film performer in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 release Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

She earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for her turn as the acerbic, straight-talking Flo, and went on to appear in dozens of movies over the following decades.

Her many credits included Chinatown, Primary Colors and two other movies for which she received best supporting nods, Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose, both of which co-starred her daughter.

Jimmy Cliff, the charismatic reggae pioneer and actor who preached joy, defiance and resilience in such classics as Many Rivers to Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want, and Vietnam and starred in the landmark movie The Harder They Come, died on Nov. 24 at 81.

Cliff was a native Jamaican with a spirited tenor and a gift for catchphrases and topical lyrics who joined Kingston’s emerging music scene in his teens and helped lead a movement in the 1960s that included such future stars as Bob Marley, Toots Hibbert and Peter Tosh.

Cliff’s career peaked with The Harder They Come, but, after a break in the late 1970s, he worked steadily for decades, whether session work with the Rolling Stones or collaborations with Wyclef Jean, Sting and Annie Lennox, among others.

Cliff was nominated for seven Grammys and won twice for best reggae album: in 1986 for Cliff Hanger and in 2012 for the well-named Rebirth, widely regarded as his best work in years. His other albums included the Grammy-nominated The Power and the Glory, Humanitarian and the 2022 release Refugees.

Udo Kier

Udo Kier, the German actor whose icy gaze and strange, scene-stealing screen presence made him a favourite of filmmakers including Andy Warhol, Gus Van Sant and Lars von Trier, died on Nov. 23 at 81.

A longtime arthouse favourite, Kier also had an unlikely run as a character actor in Hollywood blockbusters, including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey.

The most recent of Kier’s more than 200 credits in a nearly 60-year career was this year’s Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent, which could vie for Oscars and other major awards in the coming season.

Kier had his breakout as the star of two films produced by Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey: 1973’s Flesh for Frankenstein and 1974’s Blood for Dracula.

Peter Greene  

Peter Greene, a character actor best known for his role as the iconic villain Zed in Pulp Fiction, died on Dec. 12. He was 60.

Born in Montclair, N.J., Greene landed some of his first leading roles in Laws of Gravity in 1992 and Clean, Shaven in 1993, according to IMDb.

In 1994, he played the memorable villain in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, who is brought in to torture characters played by Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames. That same year, he played another leading villain opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask.

Greene was working on two projects when he died, including a documentary about the federal government’s withdrawal of funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Director-actor Rob Reiner died on Dec. 12 at the age of 78.

Reiner was one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including This Is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, and The Princess Bride.

His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic All in the Family, alongside Carol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.

The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner had been married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally and had three children together.

Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on General Hospital, died on Dec. 15 at the age of 78.

Geary began his soap opera career with roles on The Young and the Restless and Bright Promise before joining General Hospital in 1978 as Luke Spencer, a role he held on and off for nearly 40 years.

He left the show in 1984, only to return in 1991 to play a similar-looking cousin of Luke instead. The audience didn’t like that, according to executive producer Frank Valentini, so the cousin was dropped and Geary returned once again as Luke in 1993. Geary left the show in 2015.

Geary holds the record for the most Daytime Emmy wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, with eight.

Pat Finn

Actor Pat Finn, who appeared in popular TV shows including Friends, Seinfeld and The Middle, died on Dec. 22 at the age of 60.

Finn starred as Joe Mayo on Seinfeld in 1998 and made several guest appearances on popular sitcoms throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, including on The King of Queens, Friends, That ’70s Show and House.

Finn was also known for his role as Bill Norwood on The Middle from 2011 to 2018.

Mickey Lee

Big Brother alum Mickey Lee died on Dec. 25 at the age of 35.

Lee starred on Season 27 of Big Brother, which aired on Global earlier this year.

“Mickey captured the hearts of audiences nationwide through her appearance on Big Brother, where her authenticity, strength, and spirit left a lasting impression on fans and fellow cast members alike,” Lee’s family wrote on Instagram.

“She will be remembered for the joy she brought into the lives of so many and for the genuine connections she formed both on and off screen.”

Brigitte Bardot, the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, died on Dec. 28. She was 91.

Bardot became an international celebrity as a sexualized teen bride in the 1956 movie And God Created Woman.

At the height of a cinema career that spanned more than two dozen films, Bardot came to symbolize a nation bursting out of bourgeois respectability.

Bardot’s second career was an animal rights activist, where she travelled to the Arctic to blow the whistle on the slaughter of baby seals and she also condemned the use of animals in laboratory experiments.

Her activism earned her compatriots’ respect and, in 1985, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest recognition.

— with files from The Associated Press