Deaths So Far (and it's just July)

[IceWizard]

OCTOBER 2025




Patricia Routledge
on April 30, 2014

Patricia Routledge, the award-winning British actress and singer
best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket on Keeping Up Appearances,
died on Oct. 3 in Chichester, England. She was 96.
Born Katherine Patricia Routledge on Feb. 17, 1929, in Birkenhead, England,
Routledge began her career as a stage actress at the Liverpool Playhouse in
the early 1950s and went on to act with the Royal Shakespeare Company,
in the West End, and on Broadway. The actress won a Tony Award for her
1968 Broadway appearance in the musical Darling of the Day
(a tie with Leslie Uggams, for Hallelujah, Baby!) and its British equivalent,
the Laurence Olivier Award, as the Old Lady in a 1988 production of Candide
at the Old Vic. She became a household name as Keeping Up Appearances'
snotty Hyacinth, who insisted her last name was pronounced 'Bouquet' and
wore pearls and floral print dresses, showcasing her aspiration to be
middle class despite her working class reality. The sitcom ran in Britain from
1990 to 1995, making its debut on American television in 1993. The role
bagged her two BAFTA TV nominations, and she was voted the UK's most
popular actress at the BBC's 60th anniversary awards a year after the series
concluded. And following the show's succession run, Routledge went on to
lead her second big BBC series, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996-98),
based on characters from a David Cook novel. Routledge never married or
had children, and although she never formally retired, one of her last stage
appearances was as the two-faced Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband at
the 2014 Chichester Festival Theater.






Kimberly Hébert Gregory
on 'Vice Principals'

Kimberly Hébert Gregory, the actress best known for her role on the HBO
comedy Vice Principals, died on Oct. 3 at age 52. No cause of death was
disclosed. After beginning her acting career in the Chicago theater scene,
Gregory's first onscreen credits came in 2007, with a small role in the
Kerry Washington and Chris Rock comedy, I Think I Love My Wife, and
a brief appearance in the Gossip Girl pilot. Many more TV credits would
follow, including roles in New Amsterdam, Grey’s Anatomy, Two and a Half Men,
Law & Order, Shameless, and The Big Bang Theory. After a recurring gig
on Devious Maids, she booked her breakthrough role as Dr. Belinda Brown,
the fiery principal of North Jackson High School on Vice Principals. The
two-season comedy also starred Walton Goggins and Danny McBride.
Gregory would go on to appear on shows including Kevin (Probably)
Saves The World, Craig of the Creek, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and
Better Call Saul. She is survived by her ex-husband and their son.






Ike Turner Jr.


Izear "Ike" Turner Jr., the son of rock icon Tina Turner and her ex-husband
Ike Turner, died Oct. 4 at age 67. Born in 1958 to parents Ike Sr. and
Lorraine Taylor, Ike Jr. was adopted by the Queen of Rock and Roll upon
her 1962 marriage to the record producer. He grew up amid their whirlwind
careers and eventually sought his own place in the music industry as a
producer and musician. In 2007, he won the Best Traditional Blues Album
at the Grammys as a producer for his father’s 2006 album Risin’ With
the Blues. He also played in tribute band The Love Thang Band, alongside
singer Sweet Randi Love. Ike Jr. is preceded in death by both of his
parents and two of his brothers, Craig and Ronnie.





Diane Keaton in 2019

Diane Keaton, who rose to fame for her iconic roles in beloved films such
as Annie Hall, The First Wives Club, The Godfather, and many more,
died Oct. 11 at 79. The actress made her film debut in 1970's Lovers and
Other Strangers, but her big break came when Francis Ford Coppola cast
her as Kay Adams, the girlfriend of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone, in 1972's
cultural phenomenon and Best Picture Oscar winner, The Godfather. She
later starred in both of that film's sequels, but she was perhaps best known
for her many collaborations with Woody Allen, including Play It Again, Sam;
Sleeper; Love and Death; Interiors; Manhattan; Radio Days;
Manhattan Murder Mystery; and Annie Hall, with the latter earning Keaton
the Oscar for Best Actress and cementing her status as a fashion icon.
She also worked with filmmaker Nancy Meyers on several occasions, with
1987's Baby Boom, 1991's Father of the Bride, 1995's Father of the Bride Part II,
and 2003's Something’s Gotta Give, which garnered her another Oscar nod.
Other notable screen credits included 1977's Looking for Mr. Goodbar,
1981's Reds, 1982's Shoot the Moon, 1984's The Little Drummer Girl,
and 1996's The First Wives Club, with Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler. Keaton
also took her talents behind the camera, helming a music video for
Belinda Carlisle's 1987 solo hit "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" and episodes
of the series China Beach and Twin Peaks. Keaton published three best-selling
memoirs as well: 2011's Then Again, 2015's Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty,
and 2020's Brother and Sister. She was also a talented writer, singer,
and photographer.






Drew Struzan
in Hollywood, Calif., on Feb. 22, 2008

Drew Struzan, the legendary movie poster artist whose illustrations epitomized
Hollywood blockbuster marketing art for generations, died Oct. 13 at age 78.
Born in Oregon City, Ore., in 1947, Struzan trained at ArtCenter College of Design
in Los Angeles in the 1960s. He began his work in the entertainment industry
as an illustrator at the Pacific Eye & Ear design studio, where he created
album covers for records like Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare,
the Bee Gees' Main Course, and Roy Orbison's Memphis. Struzan began
designing art for movie posters in 1975, working on B-movie projects before
breaking through with a poster for George Lucas' original Star Wars for its 1978
rerelease (a year after it originally premiered). He went on to craft posters for
the Star Wars sequels (and, later, prequels) as well as the Indiana Jones franchise,
which Lucas wrote and produced. Struzan also designed posters for E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
Blade Runner, The Muppet Movie, The Goonies, The Thing, Risky Business,
First Blood, Coming to America, Hocus Pocus, Hellboy, and many more.








Samantha Eggar in 1970

Samantha Eggar, the English actress who starred in such films as The Collector
and The Brood, died Oct. 15 at 86.
Born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in London,
she began her acting career on the stage in productions of
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Landscape With Figures before making
her film debut in 1962's Dr. Crippen. Eggar's most acclaimed film role came
in 1965's The Collector, for which she received an Oscar nomination for
Best Actress (ultimately losing to Julie Christie in Darling) and won
Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival as well as Best Actress in a
Motion Picture — Drama at the Golden Globes. She went on to star in
major films like the musical Doctor Dolittle, David Cronenberg's psychological
horror movie The Brood, the Sherlock Holmes film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,
Audrey Hepburn's penultimate project Love Among Thieves, and Disney's Hercules.
She also appeared on shows including Anna and the King, All My Children,
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Hawaii Five-O, Commander in Chief, Columbo,
The Love Boat, Starsky & Hutch, and Fantasy Island.






Ace Frehley
performing with Kiss
in Sacramento, Calif., on Aug 28. 1996

Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist for the rock band Kiss,
died Oct. 16 at 74, after falling at his home in Morristown, N.J.
Born Paul Daniel Frehley, the musician grew up in the Bronx, where
he began playing guitar at 13. Frehley auditioned for Kiss in 1972
and adopted the stage persona of the Spaceman (or Space Ace)
upon joining the group. He wrote songs for eight of the band's first
nine albums, and occasionally sang lead vocals on songs like "Shock Me"
and "Save Your Love." His 1978 solo album spawned the hit cover
"New York Groove," and he pursued further solo endeavors after leaving
Kiss in 1982. Frehley rejoined Kiss for a 1996 reunion tour, and
appeared on the group's 1998 album Psycho Circus. Following another
tour with the group in 2001, Frehley departed Kiss once again. He
released several more solo albums in the last two decades of his life,
and reunited with Kiss on the 2018 Kiss Kruise.






June Lockhart
with Lassie

June Lockhart, the veteran Hollywood star famous for projects like
Lassie and Lost in Space, died Oct. 23 at 100. Lockhart was born in
New York City in 1925 to actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. June Lockhart
made her stage debut at age 8 in a 1933 production of Peter Ibbetson,
and her first film appearance came in 1938's A Christmas Carol,
which also starred her real-life parents. Lockhart later acted in
Meet Me in St. Louis, Sergeant York, and All This, and Heaven Too.
She won a Special Tony Award for Best Newcomer for her Broadway
debut, For Love or Money, in 1947 — the first year that the theater
awards were handed out. She played Ruth Martin, the adoptive
mother of young boy Timmy Martin (Jon Provost), in Lassie from
1958 to 1964. She then joined Lost in Space, in which she portrayed
biochemist Dr. Maureen Robinson, from 1965 to 1968. Lockhart
also appeared on two seasons of Petticoat Junction, acted in 14 episodes
of General Hospital, and guested in episodes of Bewitched,
The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Full House, and Grey's Anatomy.



(I thought she would look better in color, Lassie too)







Maria Riva

Maria Riva, the only child of old Hollywood starlet Marlene Dietrich,
who herself was an actress and writer known for Scrooged and Suspense,
died Oct 29. She was 100. Riva began her career with a small role
in the 1934 film The Scarlet Empress. She followed this up with parts
in the classic anthology series Studio One, Lux Video Theatre,
Suspense and The Philco Television Playhouse, as well as on the
shows Danger, Crime Photographer, and Climax! Though she was
nominated for two Primetime Emmys in 1952 and '53, Riva quit
acting in the late '50s. However, she would make her return to
the screen as Mrs. Rhinelander in 1988's Scrooged. Her final
acting credit came in the 2018 short film, All Aboard. In addition
to her TV and film career, Riva also worked in commercials and
on the stage, and, in 1992, published a memoir of her mother's life.