Most Famous Hollywood Actors and Actresses Who Died in September 2025

September 2025 brought a wave of loss across film and television, as audiences mourned performers whose work shaped decades of storytelling. From boundary-pushing stars of the New Hollywood era to beloved character actors from hit TV series and genre favorites, each left behind a catalog of roles that continue to find new fans.

Below is a look at the most prominent Hollywood actors and actresses who died in September 2025. Each entry recaps essential career highlights and confirms when they passed, so you can quickly place their achievements and legacy in context.

Graham Greene

Graham Greene, the Oneida First Nations actor celebrated for ‘Dances With Wolves’, died on September 1, 2025, after a long illness. His work spanned studio films and prestige TV, including ‘The Green Mile’, ‘Die Hard with a Vengeance’, ‘Wind River’, and ‘The Last of Us’, and he was widely credited with expanding the range of Indigenous representation on screen.

Colleagues and collaborators highlighted his steady presence across dramas, thrillers, and genre projects, noting how he brought nuance to roles that had too often been written as stereotypes. Industry tributes emphasized his craft, his mentorship of younger performers, and his decades of consistent, scene-lifting work in film and television.

Stephen Mendillo

Stephen Mendillo died on September 3, 2025, in Los Angeles at age 84. Film fans know him from roles in ‘Slap Shot’ and ‘Broadcast News’, and he maintained a steady career in supporting parts across film and television. Public records and obituaries list his date of death and confirm his longtime home in Los Angeles.

Accounts from colleagues and memorial notices emphasized Mendillo’s reliability as a character actor and his contributions to ensemble storytelling. His film and TV credits illustrate the breadth of journeyman careers that underpin Hollywood productions and give texture to stories led by marquee stars.

Polly Holliday

Polly Holliday died on September 9, 2025. A veteran of stage and screen, she became a household name as Flo on the CBS sitcom ‘Alice’, then continued working steadily across television and film for decades. News of her passing was confirmed by industry trade reporting and her representatives.

Holliday’s television career ranged from multi-camera comedies to dramas and guest roles, and she remained a touchstone for fans of classic network TV. Her work demonstrated how a single breakout character can open a path to varied parts while anchoring a performer’s enduring connection with audiences.

Paula Shaw

Paula Shaw died in her sleep on September 10, 2025, in Vancouver at age 84. She was known to horror fans for portraying Pamela Voorhees in ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ and to Hallmark audiences for recurring roles in holiday films and the series ‘Cedar Cove’. The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets documented her passing and career milestones.

Shaw’s résumé stretched from stage training at the Actors Studio to decades of television guest spots and TV-movie appearances, reflecting a working actor’s path across evolving formats and genres. Memorials also highlighted her long-running teaching of “The Max” workshop at the Esalen Institute, a parallel vocation that touched many in the creative community.

Patricia Crowley

Patricia Crowley died on September 14, 2025, in Los Angeles at age 91. A Golden Globe–winning performer whose career spanned film, television, and stage, she became widely known for the NBC sitcom ‘Please Don’t Eat the Daisies’ and worked steadily across decades in both comedy and drama. Earlier in her career she drew notice in features alongside major studio stars, establishing the versatility that carried her through a long run in Hollywood.

Crowley’s television résumé ranged from guest turns on anthology and procedural series to recurring roles on primetime dramas and daytime soaps. Audiences remember her work on shows such as ‘Dynasty’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Frasier’, ‘Friends’, and the ABC daytime serial ‘Port Charles’, while her film credits and Broadway beginnings rounded out a body of work that connected classic-era Hollywood to modern television.

Brad Everett Young

Brad Everett Young died on September 14, 2025, in Los Angeles at age 46 following a wrong-way collision on the 134 Freeway. An actor and celebrity photographer, he appeared in television series including ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Felicity’, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’, ‘Boy Meets World’, ‘Numb3rs’, and ‘General Hospital’, and he had film credits such as ‘The Artist’, ‘I Love You, Man’, and ‘Love & Basketball’. He also worked extensively on red carpets and studio shoots, contributing portraits to major outlets while collaborating with a wide range of performers across television and film.

Beyond screen work, Young founded Dream Loud Official, a campaign dedicated to supporting arts and music education in schools through high-visibility portrait projects with TV casts and emerging artists. Colleagues and collaborators highlighted his role in mentoring young creatives, organizing benefit exhibitions, and using photography to raise awareness for arts funding, which broadened his influence well beyond set appearances and into community advocacy.

Marilyn Knowlden

Marilyn Knowlden died on September 15, 2025, at age 99. A notable child actress of the 1930s, she appeared in major studio productions including ‘Little Women’, ‘Imitation of Life’, ‘Jezebel’, and ‘Anthony Adverse’, often cast in key supporting roles that added emotional weight to star-driven dramas. Her performances offered a throughline to a formative period in American filmmaking, when studio contracts and prestige adaptations dominated the screen.

After stepping away from acting as an adult, Knowlden remained part of the classic-film community through interviews, retrospectives, and festival appearances that helped contextualize studio-era production practices. Her recollections and public engagements preserved first-hand insights into how films were made and promoted in that period, ensuring that new audiences could better understand the work behind those enduring titles.

John Christopher Jones

John Christopher Jones died on September 15, 2025. A respected stage actor and translator, he appeared on Broadway and in major regional theater productions, earning notice for roles in plays such as ‘Hurlyburly’ and for work connected to ‘Beauty and the Beast’. His portfolio included appearances in film and television, along with voice and teaching credits that reflected a lifelong devotion to performance and language.

Jones was also known for adapting and translating works for the stage, bringing contemporary clarity to classic texts and supporting new productions in New York and beyond. Colleagues often cited his rehearsal-room leadership, detailed script work, and mentorship of younger performers, which extended his influence well beyond his own roles and into the creative practices of the companies he served.

Robert Redford

Robert Redford died on September 16, 2025, at his home in Utah. An Oscar-winning director and one of the defining American movie stars, he anchored classics like ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, ‘The Sting’, and ‘All the President’s Men’, and later directed ‘Ordinary People’. He also founded the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, creating a launchpad for generations of independent filmmakers.

Beyond acting and directing, Redford’s advocacy shaped the broader culture of filmmaking in the US, with Sundance supporting labs, funding, and exhibition for emerging artists. Tributes from across Hollywood on the day of his death underscored his impact on film craft, environmental activism, and artist development.

Jim Mitchum

Jim Mitchum, son of screen legend Robert Mitchum and an actor in his own right, died on September 20, 2025, in Skull Valley, Arizona. He appeared alongside his father in ‘Thunder Road’ and built a filmography that included projects such as ‘In Harm’s Way’ and ‘Moonrunners’. Multiple reputable outlets reported his death and confirmed the date and place.

Mitchum’s career mirrored mid-century Hollywood’s mix of studio pictures and independent productions, and he sustained steady work through character parts and genre fare. Obituaries noted his long illness and the family’s multigenerational ties to the industry, placing his life and career within a unique Hollywood lineage.

Claudia Cardinale

Claudia Cardinale died on September 23, 2025. An international screen icon who worked across European cinema and Hollywood, she starred in landmark films including ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, ‘8½’, ‘The Pink Panther’, and ‘The Leopard’, building a reputation for powerful performances in historical epics, thrillers, and art-house dramas. Her career spanned decades, languages, and genres, reflecting an uncommon ability to move between auteur-driven projects and widely popular entertainments.

Beyond marquee roles, Cardinale collaborated with many of the era’s most influential directors and co-stars, becoming a global ambassador for film culture through festival appearances, retrospectives, and preservation initiatives. She also engaged in humanitarian and cultural work tied to her North African roots and European career, which helped introduce new audiences to classic cinema while supporting film education and archival efforts.

Share your memories of these performers—and the roles you’ll rewatch first—in the comments below.