Remembering the stars: Every 2025 actor deaths that broke the internet (& our hearts)

Aashna
Remembering the stars: Every 2025 actor deaths (Images via YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live  and Ozzy Osbourne
Remembering the stars: Every 2025 actor deaths (Images via YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live and Ozzy Osbourne

The current year brought moments of celebration for cinema and television but the news of multiple 2025 actor deaths sent shockwaves through social media. We pause to honor their remarkable legacies and extend our heartfelt tribute to the artists who left an indelible mark on Hollywood.

Our list of 2025 actor deaths is meant to remember and honor those we lost. It celebrates their talent, passion and the lasting impact of their work. They may no longer be with us but their stories live on and their legacy continues to break the internet and touch our hearts.

As we complete another year, here is a list of every star Hollywood lost in 2025.


Every 2025 actor deaths: The performances and lives that left us heartbroken

Here is a round-up of every 2025 actor deaths

Rob Reiner

The renowned actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner is the most recent and heartbreaking addition to this list of 2025 actor deaths, who was found dead in his apartment with his wife Michele in an apparent double homicide on December 14. Reiner initially began his career in acting with the 1970 groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family, before transitioning to directing.

Some of Reiner's most popular films to date are When Harry Met Sally…, A few Good Men and Stand By Me. Rob Reiner's death still has his most loyal fans buzzing with speculation.


Michelle Trachtenberg

The Gossip Girl actress Michelle Trachtenberg left for her heavenly abode at the ripe age of 39 on February 26. While many of her fans speculated foul play, a source close to her family revealed Trachtenberg struggled with many health problems in the last year of her life, which likely resulted in her death.

While the news of Michelle Trachtenberg's sudden death was hard on her fans, they will always remember her for her memorable roles in projects like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ice Princess and 17 Again. This list of 2025 actor deaths honors the actress' lasting contributions to the industry and the powerful legacy she left behind.


Diane Keaton

American actress Diane Keaton (Image via YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live )
American actress Diane Keaton (Image via YouTube/Jimmy Kimmel Live )

Diane Keaton, the American actress who rose to prominence in the New Hollywood movement, is the next heartbreaking addition to the list of 2025 actor deaths. The legendary actress and singer, whose career spanned more than five decades, died on October 11 due to bacterial pneumonia.

While it's hard to summarise Diane Keaton's impressive body of work in a few words, she got her breakout role in Francis Ford Coppola's gangster cult film The Godfather, where she played Kay Adams, the girlfriend of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone. Keaton continued to rise to prominence with her starring roles in many of Woody Allen's films, like Annie Hall, Manhattan Murder Mystery & Play It Again, 1996's The First Wives Club and 1982's Shoot the Moon.


Robert Redford

This list of 2025 actor deaths would certainly be incomplete without Robert Redford, the legendary actor, filmmaker and the founder of the Sundance Film Festival and Institute in Park City, Utah. The 89-year-old actor was found dead in his sleep in his Utah home on September 16.

Robert Redford has a career spanning almost five decades, with projects like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men and The Sting, the latter of which earned him his only Oscar nomination for acting. Dark Winds Season 3 marked Redford's last appearance on screen, where he appeared in a cameo with author George R. R. Martin.


Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Suits (Image via YouTube/Suits Official)
Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Suits (Image via YouTube/Suits Official)

Grammy Award-winning actor and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner is one of the most shocking and heartbreaking additions on this list of 2025 actor deaths. The 59-year-old actor died on July 20 after a drowning accident in the ocean off Limón Province, Costa Rica.

Warner is best known for his breakout role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Theo was the only son of Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad's characters, the Huxtables, an upper middle-class Black American family living in Brooklyn. The actor also appeared on popular shows like 9-1-1, Major Crimes, Suits and The Resident.


Gene Hackman

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Our list of 2025 actor deaths will certainly be incomplete without honoring Gene Hackman, the Oscar-winning actor for The French Connection, who was found dead inside his Santa Fe home with his wife Betsy Arakawa on February 26.

After making his acting debut in the 1964 drama Lilith, Hackman gained popularity with his Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle character in William Friedkin's action thriller The French Connection and Sheriff 'Little Bill' character in Clint Eastwood's Western Unforgiven, both of which also earned him Oscar awards, respectively.


David Lynch

The Emmy-nominated actor and filmmaker, who co-created the ABC surrealist horror-mystery series Twin Peaks in 1990, died on January 15 due to cardiac arrest. The creator of many offbeat and surrealist projects, Lynch had a special fascination with dreamlike imagery, sound design and narrative that gave rise to the adjective "Lynchian".

David Lynch had a career spanning five decades, during which he was credited with making projects like the independent body horror film Eraserhead, the neo-noir mystery film Mulholland Drive and the biographical historical film The Elephant Man, the latter of which also earned him an Oscar nomination for directing.


In memorium: Remembering every 2025 actor deaths

Here is a round-up of every 2025 actor deaths:

  • Anthony Geary- The Daytime Emmy-winning actor of General Hospital, died on December 14
  • Carl Carlton- The singing legend best known for 'Everlasting Love,' died on December 14
  • Jim Ward- The renowned voice actor best known for his work on the Children's show Fairly OddParents, died on December 10 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease
  • Jeff Gracia- The stand-up comedian who voiced Sheen Estévez in the 2001 animated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, died on December 10
  • Loni Anderson- The Emmy-nominated actress best known for her role in the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, died on August 3
  • Terence Stamp- The legendary star who is most famously known for playing the archvillain General Zod in 1978's Superman, died on August 17
  • Graham Greene- The Oscar-nominated actor for Dances With Wolves, who also appeared in HBO's The Last of Us, died on September 1
  • June Lockhart- The veteran Hollywood icon best known for playing Lassie in Lost in Space, died on October 23
  • Val Kilmer- The legendary actor best known for playing gunslinger Doc Holliday in Tombstone, died on April 1
  • Ozzy Osbourne- The Black Sabbath frontman and the 'Prince of Darkness', died on July 22
  • Sly Stone- The renowned singer-songwriter who led his band Family Stone, died on June 9

Additionally, Hollywood mourned the loss of several beloved talents, including Hulk Hogan, Julian McMahon, George Lowe, Peter Jason, Jan Shepard, Richard Chamberlain, Lynne Marie Stewart, Michael Madsen, Sian Barbara Allen and Joan Plowright in 2025, whose unforgettable performances, larger-than-life presence, and enduring legacies continue to echo through the stories they helped bring to life.


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Edited by Aashna