The death of writer and editor, Mark Masek, announced on social media in the quiet aftermath of New Year’s Eve, closes a chapter in Hollywood history that few outside a devoted circle ever fully understood—but many relied upon. Masek was not a celebrity in the conventional sense, yet for decades he served as one of the most trusted custodians of Hollywood’s afterlife, a writer and historian whose work preserved the final resting places of film and television figures who might otherwise have slipped into anonymity.

Brigitte Bardot, the French actress whose sun-struck sensuality and shaggy-haired restlessness redefined postwar screen glamour—and who later shocked the world by walking away from it all to dedicate her life to animal protection—has died at 91, at her home in Saint-Tropez on December 28, 2025. Her death was confirmed by her foundation, the cause close-held in early reports, as France and the film world began reckoning—once again—with a figure who was never merely an icon, never merely a scandal, never merely a symbol.

On Christmas Eve 2025, Annette Dionne died in Canada at age ninety-one, the last surviving member of the Dionne quintuplets and the final living witness to one of the most troubling child-celebrity stories ever produced. Where so many recalled the miracle and the novelty, now at Annette’s passing the story of the Dionne sisters might be remembered as a cautionary tale.

Gilbert Cyril Gerard, the actor whose face became synonymous with futuristic adventure and Saturday-night imagination, has died at the age of 82. A man whose career spanned soaps, the silver screen, countless commercials, and the iconic role of Captain William “Buck” Rogers, he passed away on December 16, 2025, after a brave battle with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, his wife Janet announced. “Gil—my soulmate—lost his fight early this morning,” she wrote, urging others to “hold the ones you have tightly and love them fiercely” in tribute to a life that connected with generations of fans.

Anthony Geary, a titan of daytime television and the man who made General Hospital's Luke Spencer a household name, passed away at the age of 78 in Amsterdam after complications from a routine surgical procedure. A beloved member of the soap community and one-half of the supercouple that made daytime what it is today, the actor was pronounced dead at the scene. Fans, friends, and peers are mourning the loss of this legend, leaving a heavy cloud of grief and remembrance over social media.

Hollywood awoke on December 15, 2025, to a story so wrenching and unfathomable that it felt impossible to process at first — the deaths of one of its most beloved storytellers and the woman who was his partner in life and in work. Robert Norman “Rob” Reiner, the actor who turned into one of America’s great directors, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on Sunday, December 14. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported that their 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder and is being held on $4 million bail as the investigation continues.

MUNICH - Alice and Ellen Kessler, the identical German-born twins who became Europe’s most beloved sister act of the 1950s and 1960s, died together on November 17, 2025, in Grünwald near Munich. They were 89. For nearly nine decades, the Kessler twins lived, worked, and ultimately chose to depart the world side by side.

LOS ANGELES - In a town built on bright lights, punchlines, and fleeting applause, some artists manage to carve out a place not through spectacle, but through sincerity. Cleto Escobedo III, the longtime saxophonist and bandleader of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, was one of those rare figures — a musician whose presence was steady, warm, and unmistakably genuine. His passing on November 11, 2025, at the age of 59, marked the end of a quiet, steadfast chapter in late-night television.

MONTECITO - The world’s most curious, and kindest, Hollywood chronicler has died. Writer, broadcaster and film historian Richard Lamparski, best known for his Whatever Became of…? books, has died at the age of 93. Friends of the author announced his passing on social media, although it is not yet known when he passed away.

PALM SPRINGS - Hollywood has lost one of its brightest lights. Actress, iconoclast, teacher and Oscar-nominated star of Anna, Sally Kirkland has passed away on November 11, 2025, at the age of eighty-four. Her passing brings to an end a six-decade career that blazed with bold choices, raw emotion, and a kind of rare, exposed humanity.

OJAI - Hollywood has lost one of its grand Southern spirits. Diane Ladd, the three-time Oscar-nominated actress whose fierce intelligence and unflagging artistry lit up film, stage, and television for more than seventy years, died on November 3, 2025, at her home in Ojai, California. She was 89.

GILA - Maria Riva, actress, author, and devoted guardian of her mother Marlene Dietrich’s legacy, died on October 29, 2025, at her home in Gila, New Mexico. She was 100.