2025 was a year of major loss in the entertainment industry. Fans have had to say goodbye to a number of African American actors who died throughout the year. 2026 has started off with sadness too. Here are just some of the names and faces who will be missed.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the actor who made Theo Huxtable from The Cosby Show a household name, drowned on July 20 while on vacation in Costa Rica. Warner also made a name for himself on popular TV shows such as Malcolm & Eddie and The Resident.
Ananda Lewis
American broadcast journalist and actress Ananda Lewis passed away from breast cancer on June 11, 2025. She was well recognised for her time as an MTV VJ and Teen Summit host, but had plenty more credits to her name.
Kimberly Hébert Gregory
Vice Principals actress Kimberly Hébert Gregory died on October 3, 2025, at the age of 52. Her cause of death is still unknown.
Kirk Medas
Reality TV star Kirk Medas passed away on May 2 at age 33. Medas of Floribama Shore fame reportedly spent two weeks in a Miami ICU due to necrotising pancreatitis.
Danielle Spencer
Danielle Spencer, best remembered as the sassy tattletale Dee Thomas on What’s Happening!!, died on August 11, 2025. The former actress passed away from stomach cancer at 60 years old.
Kenneth Washington
Actor Kenneth Washington passed away from cardiopulmonary arrest and prostate cancer on July 18. After working on shows like Hogan’s Heroes, Star Trek, and Westworld, Washington went on to give classes on Black representation in film. He was 88 at the time of his passing.
James Lloydovich Patterson
James Lloydovich Patterson, a child actor, former Soviet Navy commander, and writer, died on May 22nd at the age of 91. Patterson appeared in the musical comedy Circus in 1936.
Henry Fambrough
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Henry Fambrough died peacefully from natural causes at the age of 85. Fambrough was a part of the R&B quintet The Spinners for almost seven decades (1954 to 2023), but had minor TV roles in Laverne & Shirley and Cos.
Lynn Hamilton
Lynn Hamilton, who had over 50 years in the entertainment industry, died of natural causes on June 19, 2025. The actress is best remembered for her role as Donna Harris from Sanford and Son, but also made guest appearances on The Golden Girls and Port Charles.
Joshua Allen
Joshua Allen, who won So You Think You Can Dance season 4 at just 18, has died at 36. The 2008 champ took home $250,000 and later shared the stage with Stephen “tWitch” Boss in Step Up 3D and Footloose. From TV to ads, his moves left an unmistakable mark on pop culture.
T.K. Carter
Born in New York City and raised in Southern California, Thomas Kent “T.K.” Carter did stand-up at 12, Neil Simon plays in high school, and kept grinding in the industry. Horror fans remember him as Nauls in The Thing. Sitcom viewers remember him on Punky Brewster.
He died at 69.
Kianna Underwood
Kianna Underwood, who showed up on All That’s final season in 2005, died after a hit-and-run in January in Brooklyn, New York. She was 33. WABC7 reported she crossed an intersection in Brownsville when an SUV struck her, then a second car hit her and dragged her several feet. Police said the drivers kept going.
Underwood also voiced Fuchsia Glover on Little Bill and Dakota in the 2001 animated musical Santa Baby! She even stepped onstage as Little Inez during the first national tour of Hairspray.
Demond Wilson
Demond Wilson, the man who kept his cool while everyone else lost theirs on Sanford and Son, has died at 79. He passed away on January 30, 2026, at his home in Palm Springs, California, from complications related to prostate cancer.
Sanford and Son ranked in the Top 10 for five of its six seasons and peaked at No. 2 behind All in the Family. In 1974, when Foxx walked out over a salary dispute, Wilson carried the show himself. Not bad for a guy who debuted on Broadway at 4, danced at the Apollo at 12, and served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968 with the 4th Infantry Division, where he was wounded.
He later headlined Baby… I’m Back! in 1978 and played Oscar Madison on The New Odd Couple from 1982 to 1983.
Off-screen, Wilson became a pastor and author, writing Christian books and his memoir, “Second Banana: The Bittersweet Memoirs of the Sanford & Son Years.”
