You’ve seen their faces for decades, stealing scenes in sitcom reruns or popping up in those comfort-watch movies you throw on every Sunday night. Then someone mentions a name and you freeze. Wait… they’re gone? When did that happen? These black actors quietly left us in 2025 while the headlines chased the latest streaming drama. They deserved more than a passing scroll. So this little space is for the performers who shaped your watchlist long before algorithms did, the ones who made you laugh, shout at the screen, or Google “Who is that actor? They’re awesome,” every single time. Here is a list of black actors who died in 2025 but didn’t make the news.
Lee Weaver
Lee Weaver, 95, died September 22, 2025 in Los Angeles. You’ve seen him everywhere: The Cosby Show, Hill Street Blues, Easy Street, and voicing Alpine in G.I. Joe. Watch him as the Blind Seer in O Brother, Where Art Thou? He served four years in the U.S. Army during the 1950s.
Olga James
Olga James, born 16 February 1929 in Washington DC, lit up Carmen Jones (1954) with Harry Belafonte. She later popped up in The Bill Cosby Show and Sealab 2020. She married Cannonball Adderley, then Len Chandler. She passed away in Los Angeles on 25 January 2025 at 95.
Marlene Warfield
Marlene Warfield, 83, died of lung cancer on April 6, 2025 in a Los Angeles hospital. You remember her as Laureen Hobbs in Network. She matched James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope and popped up on Maude and Little House on the Prairie.
Dalyce Curry
Dalyce Curry was an actress known for her role in Blues Brothers, Lady Sings the Blues, and The Egyptian. Sadly, she passed away in 2025 at the age of 95 due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Her remains were found at her home in Altadena, California.
Stephen Q. Luckett
Stephen Quinton Luckett, born October 13, 1938, in Mount Vernon and hustling in Halltown, turned West Virginia into his gallery. Painter, actor, food-bank boss. He showed work at the Smithsonian, taught art, ran businesses, and popped up in Ghost Stories of Harpers Ferry (1974), Pudd’nhead Wilson (1984), The Anvil (1977), and The Little Foxes (1982).
Yvonne Brewster
Yvonne Brewster (7 Oct 1938–12 Oct 2025) didn’t wait for permission. The actress, who starred in Doctors (2000), Maybury (1981), The Waterfall (1980) and Vital Signs (2006), built Talawa in 1986 because Black actors deserved real roles. She directed Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, even Lorca in Cuba, and gave Helen McCrory her break. She died at the age of 87. A legend gone.
Reginald Carroll
Baltimore comic Reginald “Reggie” Carroll, 52, known from Showtime at the Apollo and The Parkers, died after an August 20 shooting in Southaven, Mississippi. Police arrested a suspect. Carroll hustled on screen too, starring in Rent & Go (2022) and producing Knockout Kings of Comedy in 2023. You deserved more laughs, Reggie.
Presley Chweneyagae
Presley Chweneyagae, 40, the standout star of 2005’s Tsotsi, died from natural causes after breathing problems. Paramedics tried, but, as his family said, he “couldn’t make it.” Born in the North-West Province in 1984, he brought Tsotsitaal to the Oscars and made Tsotsi a “landmark film,” Stephen Aspeling told the BBC.
Clifton Jones
Clifton Jones, born in St Andrew, Jamaica, showed up in London in 1958 chasing acting dreams and somehow ended up monitoring a Moonbase. Fans remember him as David Kano from Space: 1999, the pricey sci-fi show that ruled British TV from 1975 to 1977. Anderson Entertainment wrote, “We’re sad to hear of the passing of actor Clifton Jones…” He popped up everywhere: The Professionals, Emergency Ward 10, even Star Trek: The Next Generation. Eighty-seven years on this planet. One season on the Moon. You probably saw him more times than you realised.
Floyd Roger Myers Jr
Floyd Roger Myers Jr. made his entrance as young Will in Fresh Prince season 3’s “Will Gets Committed,” then played Marlon Jackson in a 1992 TV miniseries. He co-founded Fellaship Mens Group in Atlanta, helping guys drop the tough-guy act and actually talk. A heart attack ended his run at 42.
Kirk Medas
Kirk Medas, the 33-year-old firecracker from Floribama Shore, fought necrotising pancreatitis in a Miami ICU for two weeks before his death on May 2. He was also known for Everybody Hates Kyle (2022).
Danielle Spencer
Danielle Spencer, the quick-witted Dee Thomas from What’s Happening!!, died on August 11, 2025, at 60 after facing stomach cancer. Dee never snitched quietly, and fans loved her for it. She also appeared in Days of Our Lives, As Good as It Gets, and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
Kenneth Washington
Kenneth Washington, 88, died July 18 from cardiopulmonary arrest and prostate cancer. You might remember him from Hogan’s Heroes, a quick trip to Star Trek, or even Westworld, stealing scenes like it was a day job. He later taught classes on Black representation in film.
James Lloydovich Patterson
James Lloydovich Patterson packed a few lifetimes into one. He starred as a kid in the 1936 Soviet musical comedy Circus, then grew up to command ships in the Soviet Navy. He later wrote about the world he’d seen. He died May 22 at 91.
Henry Fambrough
Henry Fambrough spent nearly seven decades with The Spinners, from 1954 until 2023, hitting harmonies that stuck in your head for days. He even sneaked onto TV in Laverne & Shirley and Cos. He died at 85 from natural causes.
Lynn Hamilton
Lynn Hamilton spent more than 50 years acting her way through living rooms across America. Donna Harris from Sanford and Son made her unforgettable, but she also showed up in The Golden Girls and Port Charles because she never stayed in one lane. She died June 19, 2025, from natural causes at 94.
Ananda Lewis
Ananda Lewis, the former MTV and BET host who made Teen Summit, TRL, and her own daytime series feel like must-watch TV, died after a long fight with breast cancer. She inspired a generation to speak up, try harder, and look impossibly cool while doing it. She also starred in movies like Method & Red, Nora’s Hair Salon II and On the Line.
Joshua Allen
Joshua Allen won So You Think You Can Dance season 4 at 18, flipping life into overdrive with a $250,000 prize and every dancer’s dream phone call. He hit films like Step Up 3D and Footloose with Stephen “tWitch” Boss, plus commercials you probably still remember. He died at 36.
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