The entertainment industry has lost several notable figures so far in 2025. The film world was 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.
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.
Last year, the entertainment business said goodbye to stars including Shannen Doherty, Bob Newhart, Louis Gossett Jr., Donald Sutherland and James Earl Jones.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obituary here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
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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.
Read the full obit here.
