You binge an old show, spot a familiar face, then discover they died in December 2025 and nobody mentioned it. Wild, right? Some actors disappear and the world shrugs. You’ve watched them for years, yet they slipped away quietly. Why not check the credits of your favourite reruns and appreciate the people behind those scenes you keep replaying? This list exists to give those forgotten legends a little love. They entertained you. Return the favour by remembering their names.
Joe Ely – December 15, 2025
Joe Ely died on December 15, 2025, at 78, at his home in Taos, New Mexico, after pneumonia and complications from Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Born February 9, 1947, in Amarillo, he came up in Lubbock, then helped form the Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. By the late 1970s, his solo work mixed road grit with sharp stories. He even sang Spanish vocals on the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Kyle Young of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum said Ely “performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believer who knew music could transport souls.”
Anthony Geary – December 14, 2025
Anthony Geary, famous for his role in General Hospital, is dead at 78. TMZ confirmed Geary died on Sunday in Amsterdam. Reports link it to complications from a planned surgery, but the family hasn’t confirmed an official cause yet. Geary joined General Hospital in 1978 for a short arc as Luke Spencer, a hitman who ends up falling for, and marrying, Laura Webber, played by Genie Francis. A soap opera romance built on a premise you’d normally reject in the first ten minutes of a movie. And yet. It worked.
Rob Reiner – December 14, 2025
Rob Reiner died on December 14, 2025, at his Los Angeles home, along with his wife, photographer Michele Singer. He was 78. She was 68. The loss cuts deep because Reiner stayed busy for five decades and never felt distant. Born March 6, 1947, the son of comedy giant Carl Reiner, he went from playing “Meathead” on All in the Family to directing a wild run of films that still hold up. Sean Astin said he was “one of the most significant figures in the history of film and television.” Reiner made you laugh, then think, sometimes both in the same scene.
Peter Greene – December 12, 2025
Peter Greene died in December 2025 in New York City. He was 60. Did you watch movies in the 1990s, and remember the stare? He turned scenes in Pulp Fiction and The Mask into moments that stuck. Born in Montclair, New Jersey, he ran away at 15 and spent years homeless. Acting arrived in his 20s, first on As the World Turns, then everywhere. Nearly 100 roles followed, from The Usual Suspects to Justified.
Jim Ward – December 10, 2025
Jim Ward died on December 10, 2025. He was 66. If your childhood sounded louder than it should have, that was probably him. Ward gave you Captain Qwark in Ratchet & Clank, Doug Dimmadome on The Fairly OddParents, and Stoker in Biker Mice from Mars, a role that earned him an Emmy.
Jeff Garcia – December 10, 2025
Jeff Garcia died December 10, 2025, after a stroke, at 50, in a Southern California hospital. If you grew up quoting Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, you knew him as Sheen Estevez, the jittery best friend who talked fast and thought later. Garcia voiced Sheen in the 2001 movie and the TV runs that followed, then popped up in Rio, Barnyard, and Happy Feet.
Rachael Carpani – December 7, 2025
Rachael Anna-Marie Carpani died December 7, 2025. She was 45. Born August 24, 1980, in Sydney, she broke through as Jodi Fountain on McLeod’s Daughters from 2001 to 2009, scoring two Logie nods in 2007, including Gold. She crossed to the US for NCIS: Los Angeles, The Glades and Lifetime’s Against the Wall, then popped up in Triangle and The Way Back. In 2024, she returned home on Home and Away. Co-star Bridie Carter called her the “baby of the MD family” with a “blessed spirit.” Matt Passmore wrote, “Farewell my friend… The greatest gift you gave was knowing you.”
Martin Parr – December 6, 2025
Martin Parr spent more than 50 years pointing his camera at Britain and laughing with us, not at us. He once said, “I make serious photographs disguised as entertainment,” which feels like the perfect tagline for a man who turned soggy chips and seaside chaos into art people still argue about. Born in Epsom in 1952, he stormed into the spotlight with The Last Resort in New Brighton. Some hated seeing their picnics surrounded by litter. Parr shrugged. “Truth is subjective, but it’s the world how I found it.” He died at home in Bristol at 73, apparently watching football.
Michael Annett – December 5, 2025
Michael Annett packed a lot into 39 years. The Des Moines kid jumped into big-league racing, racking up 436 NASCAR starts and a 2019 win at Daytona in JRM’s No. 1 Chevy. That one’s still a bragging right. He also grabbed ARCA victories at Talladega in 2007 and Daytona in 2008. JR Motorsports said, “Michael was a key member of JRM from 2017 until he retired in 2021,” and you can tell they meant it. NASCAR added he showed “determination, professionalism, and positive spirit.” You follow racing because of drivers like him.
Frank Gehry – December 5, 2025
Frank Gehry never treated a building like a quiet background prop. The Toronto-born architect, who died December 5, 2025 at 96 after a short respiratory illness, spent six decades proving cities could use a little drama. He once turned his own Santa Monica bungalow into a chaotic masterpiece, like he was testing how weird a home could get before the neighbors complained. Then came the titanium curves of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997, which “redefined what a museum could look like.” Los Angeles scored the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Chad Aaron Spodick – December 4, 2025
Chad Spodick, remembered from Finding Prince Charming back in 2016, died on December 4 at 42. Friends shared the news on a GoFundMe page created to help his mom Felice and his pets. “Our hearts are shattered,” the post reads, describing a guy who cheered on everyone around him and spoiled his four dogs and his bird, Cosmo. Host Lance Bass posted, “He was such a kind sweet soul… Fly high my friend.” Chad left the Bachelor-style show in Week 6, but fans still remember him.
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa – December 4, 2025
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa gave every villain a look that said, “Your soul is mine”. The Japanese actor, who died on December 4 from complications after cardiac arrest at 75, made Shang Tsung the Mortal Kombat bad guy everyone secretly rooted for. He’d been stealing souls in that role since 1995. Before that, he turned heads in 1987’s The Last Emperor and kept popping up in blockbusters like Pearl Harbor, Elektra, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Man in the High Castle. If you ever tried to mimic his iconic line while button-mashing on your couch, you owe the man a nod.
Charles Shay – December 3, 2025
Charles Norman Shay lived more than most action movies promise. Born June 27, 1924, this Penobscot kid from Indian Island Reservation got drafted in 1943, trained as a medic, and by 19 he was splashing through chest-high waves on Omaha Beach rescuing guys under fire. Silver Star. French Légion d’Honneur. Oh, and captured in March 1945, then freed a few weeks later. He just kept going, serving through Korea like it was no big deal. In Normandy he became the friendly neighborhood elder reminding everyone that Native American soldiers mattered. “I guess I was prepared to give my life if I had to.”
Jo Ann Allen Boyce – December 3, 2025
Jo Ann Allen Boyce wasn’t just Cameron Boyce’s Nana. At 15, she walked into Clinton High School in Tennessee in 1956 with the rest of the Clinton 12, knowing full well that every hallway could turn hostile. That kind of courage doesn’t fade. Her family confirmed she passed away at 84 after pancreatic cancer, surrounded by loved ones in California. The Green McAdoo Cultural Center now features life-size statues of those students, a reminder of her strength. Cameron once said, “My Nana stuck up for what she believed in and did something amazing.” He wasn’t exaggerating. She showed her grandson how to change the world, and he listened.
Steve Cropper – December 3, 2025
Steve Cropper, 84, passed away on December 3. You hear his guitar every time “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “Knock on Wood,” or “In the Midnight Hour” hits your playlist. He co-wrote those hits while rocking with Booker T. and the M.G.’s, the Stax Records house band in early 60s Memphis.
Criscilla Anderson – December 2, 2025
Criscilla Anderson lived with purpose until December 2, at 45, after fighting colon cancer since 2018. You might remember her from Netflix’s 2020 show Country Ever After with her husband, country singer Coffey Anderson. She didn’t let treatments stop her from dancing, working or raising her kids.
Donyelle Jones – December 2, 2025
Donyelle Jones packed so much life into 46 years, you’d swear she had bonus levels. Born July 3, 1979, in LA, she hit national fame in 2006 on Season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance, finishing third but instantly unforgettable. She acted too, popping up in Be Cool and Spirited. Then cancer showed up in 2016, stage 3C and cruel. Chemo, double mastectomy, the whole nightmare. Yet she still found joy. July 2025, she taught again after four years away. Her family called her “A wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend. And a warrior who kicked cancer’s ass every single day she was here.”
Elden Campbell – December 2, 2025
Elden Campbell, the 7-foot big man Lakers fans called “Easy E,” died December 2 at 57. Born July 23, 1968, in Los Angeles, he turned Clemson University into his personal highlight reel from 1986 to 1990, finishing as the school’s top scorer. He joined the Lakers in 1990 as the 27th pick and spent nine seasons annoying opposing shooters with that calm, unbothered style. Byron Scott once joked, “He was just so cool, nothing speeding him up… He was such a good dude.” Cedric Ceballos posted, “This one hurt to the bone… Rest BIG EASY.” A champion with Detroit in 2004, always steady, always respected.
Adam McNaughtan – December 2
Adam McNaughtan never chased fame, yet Scotland can’t stop singing his stuff. Born in Glasgow’s East End, he turned everyday life into folk gems. Ever heard Jeely Piece or Skyscraper Wean? That’s him turning kids dodging sandwiches from tenement windows into a national anthem. He spent years teaching, performing and collecting songs—like your favourite encyclopedia, but with jokes and a guitar. When he died on December 2, his family said he didn’t want a funeral, just a “celebration of his life.” Fellow artists called him “legendary.” Peter Grant nailed it: “Thank you for the music.”
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