Our place to honor those actors, actresses and the many people behind the camera that have passed in 2025.
April 1st – Val Kilmer (1959-2025)
March 30th – Richard Chamberlain (1934-2025)
March 15th – Wings Hauser (1947-2025)
February 26th – Michelle Trachtenberg (1985-2025)
February 17th – Gene Hackman (1939-2025)
February 7th – Tony Roberts (1939-2025)
January 16th – David Lynch (1946-2025)
January 3rd – Jeff Baena (1977-2025)
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From People magazine.
Val Kilmer, best known for movies such as Top Gun and 1995’s Batman Forever, has died. He was 65 years old.
His daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times he died of pneumonia on Tuesday, April 1. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she added.
The actor’s death comes after he made a rare public appearance for his TwainMania Foundation in early June 2019 after taking a step away from the spotlight following some recent health battles. The actor’s 23-year-old son Jack was also in attendance that night.
The appearance came as Kilmer prepared to hit the big screen again in Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 classic. In the summer of 2018, Tom Cruise gave an update on his friend and costar, saying it was “special” getting to work with Kilmer again. Kilmer briefly appeared in the film, sharing a poignant moment Cruise onscreen.
After years of rumored health problems, Kilmer finally opened up about his battle with throat cancer during a December 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The article revealed that the actor’s two-year fight with throat cancer had “taken its toll” on the family and noted that Kilmer had undergone a procedure on his trachea which made his voice raspy and left him short of breath.
His health issues first became apparent in January 2015, when a spokesperson told PEOPLE that he was rushed to the hospital “for a possible tumor.” Soon after, he took to Facebook to deny having a tumor, saying only that he “had a complication.”
Related: Val Kilmer Makes Rare Public Appearance for His TwainMania Foundation
Further rumors were repeatedly shut down by Kilmer, who was spotted out with a tracheostomy tube in October 2015 and then without it the next February.
“I have not had a tumor, or a tumor operations, or any operation I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU,” he later said in a Facebook post. “I am praying for a speedy return to the boards as they say. God bless you all and please don’t worry.”
In October of that year, the actor had to once again reassure fans that he was okay, denying a report that he had been rushed to the hospital. In a Facebook statement, the actor revealed that he had gone to the hospital just to “verify I have no tumor or infection of any kind which was verified by the very caring experts at UCLA.” However, less than two months after declaring he was healthy, Kilmer was spotted out with what appeared to be a tracheostomy tube. Though he was then spotted again in February 2016 without it, the scar from the breathing aid was visible on the actor’s throat.
XPOSURE/AKM-GSI
XPOSURE/AKM-GSI
AKM-GSI
AKM-GSI
Kilmer was born in Los Angeles, California in 1959 to parents Eugene and Gladys, though they later divorced. Tragedy struck the Kilmer family in 1977 when Kilmer’s younger brother Wesley drowned at the young age of 15.
“He was a genius,” Kilmer told The New York Times in 2002. Kilmer praised his bother as an aspiring filmmaker, calling him so talented that he could have been another Steven Spielberg or George Lucas.
Shortly after his brother’s death, Kilmer became the youngest person at the time to be accepted into the famed Juilliard School’s Drama Group. This became the start of his acting career.
Related: Inside Val Kilmer’s Life Now — and Health Mystery — Amid Cate Blanchett Twitter Controversy
“I had a unique experience because I just lost my little brother a week before I started school,” Kilmer said in a talk at Juilliard in 2005. “So it was quite an emotional time for me, and in a way, the extremely high standards and the activity of the School I’m sure were good for me, because I was forced to really challenge myself about my very life, you know—what I believe about life and death. For me, it was a great way to progress out of that difficult time, to be thrown into such a great school.”
Though Kilmer had a few roles on Broadway, his big-screen break came in the 1984 movie Top Secret! — a parody of spy films in the Cold War era and the musicals Elvis Presley used to star in. Kilmer plays an American rockstar who travels to East Germany and gets caught in the fight and resistance towards reunification. The actor did his own singing and dancing in the film.
Kilmer’s superstar making moment cam in Top Gun, where he starred as a naval aviator Lt. Tom “Iceman” Kazanski alongside Tom Cruise.
“It was fun,” Kilmer told Larry King in 2013 about working with Cruise and filming the movie. “My guy didn’t like him but it was fun to not like him.”
After gaining critical acclaim for his supporting role in Top Gun, the actor went on to achieve starring success by helming Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie, The Doors. Kilmer starred as The Doors frontman Jim Morrison alongside Meg Ryan, committing fully to the role of the late troubled rocker by memorizing all his songs and even dressing like him.
In 1988, Kilmer married actress Joanne Whalley after they met while working together on the movie Willow. The couple had two children — Mercedes in 1991 and Jack in 1995 — before ultimately divorcing in 1996.
The late actor worked steadily throughout his career, most recently starring in a one-man play titled “Mark Twain: Citizen Twain.” Kilmer is survived by his 27-year-old daughter Mercedes and 23-year-old son Jack.
Read the original article on People
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WGN’s Dean Richards spoke to the stars of the new fantasy-adventure-comedy, “A Minecraft Movie.”
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Meet The Beatles: Harris Dickinson, Barry Keoghan, Paul Mescal, and Joseph Quinn.
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Hey Dan. Thanks for sharing these links on Val Kilmer. Sad news about his passing. I grew over the years to like his performances. His Doc Holliday is one of my all-time favorite performances.
A PERSONAL APPRECIATION OF THE LATE GENE HACKMAN
I have long loved watching Gene Hackman and my favourite Hackman movie is the sports drama Hoosiers (1986) also known as Best Shot in GB
GENE HACKMAN AND MARLON BRANDO (1)
Gene played the role of Lex Luther in the 1978 film Superman.
I saw an interview in which he was asked why he, a strong dramatic actor, took on such an acting-lite role about an ancient American comic book character and Gene replied:
“Because I learned that Marlon Brando was to be in it. We didn’t share any scenes but I knew it might be the only chance I would ever get to work with him as that had long been my dream. I do hope that it workd for toady’s audiencies”
For what amounted to a 15 minute cameo appearance in Superman, Brando was paid a record fee at that time (which got into the Guinness Book of Record for a while) for his appearance: $3.7 million ($21 million in today’s dollars) plus 11 and one quarter % of the gross.
Overall Brando is estimated to have earned $70 million when his initial fee was added to his % of the massive gross and the lot is adjusted for inflation. Again adjusted for inflation, Superman 1978 raked in worldwide some $1.5 billion in gross revenue.
When asked back then why he had paid any actor such massive sums for 15 minutes on screen the producer Alexander Salkind said that Brando’s signing had 3 advantages for him:
“1/he is a super-Superstar and you don’t get many of those. His name when it got out brought in healthy amounts of free publicity for me;
2/a man flying through the air with tights and a cloak on was a big risk when we made the movie and we had trouble getting backers for the massive budget the film required. Enter Brando and all that changed: we got the necessary cash and also were able to make advance foreign bookings ensuring the movie would have a wide worldwide release.
3/Prestigious actors were originally a problem too as they were wary of singing up for a movie that was a high-risk novelty and could well have bombed. Once Brando came aboard actors like Glenn Ford, Trevor Howard, Terence Stamp and Gene Hackman quickly wanted a piece of the action!
Look at it like this. If a big rock star advertises hair cream that he says he likes he doesn’t have to even apply it in real life: he has earned his fee by sponsoring the product.
In short I was paying Brando big money for his name: not for a Streetcar level performance! He’d already don that and as the cliché goes “had gotten the T shirt to prove it! Besides I had to fork out big time as after The Godfather other producers were throwing big money at him. Francis Coppola (again) for example ”
GENE HACKMAN AND TOM CRUISE
Gene’s name appears alongside that of Cruise on the screen in equal sized letters for 1993’s thriller The Firm, another box office smash that Hackman appeared in during his glory years.
However at that time Cruise had it in his contract that only his name – and his alone- would appear above the title of any movie in which he appeared for Paramount pictures.
Cruise refused to allow Gene’s name to share the posters above the title billing with him; so rather than the indignity of being listed below the title in tiny letters with other cast members, Gene asked for, and got, his own name to be removed from the posters entirely.
Tom (who has long since been able to write his own ticket when being cast) actually allowed his name to appear 3rd in 2007’s Lions for Lambs, after Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, whom Cruise is on record as saying he had always wanted to work with.
GENE HACKMAN AND MARLON BRANDO (2)
Whether or not Brando was aware of the massive homage that Gene was showing him, Marlon -unlike Tom Cruise – clearly held Gene in the respect that Hackman more than richly deserved.
Brando agreed to Gene’s name alone going alongside his above the title of Superman 1978 even though the other established prestigious performers in the film all had to settle for below the title mention as did newcomer Christopher Reeve, even though Chris played the title role and was in fact the lead.
GENE HACKMAN AND CLINT EASTWOOD
Reproductions of the posters for Superman, The Firm and Lions for Lambs can all be currently viewed on Wikipedia and IMDB. And for the record Clint Eastwood is another megastar who is on record, some years ago now, as appreciating Gene’s screen work.
Also, Gene shared top billing with Clint in Unforgiven (1992) and Absolute Power (1997). 2 especially pungent powerhouse performance from Gene in that pair of movies. Clint said at the time of Unforgiven when discussing the other actors in the movie
“When I have a say in the casting of one of my movies, only those who have a record of a talented body of work will be offered a role. For me you have had to earn it – no handouts!
Peter Jason who was # 148 on the January 2025 Oracle top 1000 has died.
Below is a list of all Oscar winners he appeared with alone with all actors who were ever in the top 100 of the Oracle top 1000.
ALEC BALDWIN The Hunt for Red October (1990)
ALFRED MOLINA SAINT JUDY (2019)
ARMAND ASSANTE The Man Who Came Back (2008)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER Red Heat (1988)
BILLY ZANE The Man Who Came Back (2008)
BRIAN COX The Glimmer Man (1996)
BRUCE DERN The Driver (1978)
BRUCE DERN Wild Bill (1995)
BRUCE WILLIS Sunset (1988)
CAMERON MITCHELL Texas Lightning (1981)
CAMERON MITCHELL THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018)
CARY ELWES Oxford Blues (1984)
CHARLTON HESTON In the Mouth of Madness (1995) AA
CHRIS COOPER Seabiscuit (2003) AA
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Dreamscape (1984) AA
CLIFF ROBERTSON Escape from L.A. (1996) AA
CLINT EASTWOOD Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
DANNY TREJO Marked for Death (1990)
DANNY TREJO Richard III (2008)
DAVID CARRADINE Hair High (2004)
DAVID CARRADINE Richard III (2008)
DAVID CARRADINE The Long Riders (1980)
DAVID CARRADINE Trick or Treats (1982)
DAVID WARNER In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
DENNIS HOPPER THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018)
DONALD PLEASENCE Prince of Darkness (1987)
ED BEGLEY JR. Hair High (2004)
ED BEGLEY JR. Streets of Fire (1984)
ED LAUTER Seabiscuit (2003)
EDMOND O’BRIEN THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (2018) AA
ELLIOTT GOULD Kicking and Screaming (1995)
FAYE DUNAWAY Mommie Dearest (1981) AA
FOREST WHITAKER Johnny Handsome (1989) AA
FRANCES MCDORMAND HAIL, CAESAR! (2016) AA
FRANK WELKER Mortal Kombat (1995)
GEORGE CLOONEY HAIL, CAESAR! (2016) AA
GEORGE KENNEDY The Man Who Came Back (2008) AA
GERALDINE CHAPLIN JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018)
JAMES CAAN Alien Nation (1988)
JAMES COBURN The Baltimore Bullet (1980) AA
JAMES CROMWELL JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018)
JAMES EARL JONES The Hunt for Red October (1990)
JAMES HONG How to Make Love to a Woman (2010)
JEFF BRIDGES Seabiscuit (2003) AA
JEFF BRIDGES Wild Bill (1995) AA
JEFF GOLDBLUM JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (2018)
JOHN CARRADINE The Long Riders (1980)
JOHN GOODMAN Arachnophobia (1990)
JOHN HURT Wild Bill (1995)
JOHN WAYNE Rio Lobo (1970) AA
JOSS ACKLAND The Hunt for Red October (1990)
JULIAN SANDS Arachnophobia (1990)
JULIAN SANDS Oxford Blues (1984)
KEENAN WYNN Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986)
KEITH DAVID Marked for Death (1990)
KEITH DAVID They Live (1988)
LANCE HENRIKSEN Johnny Handsome (1989)
M. EMMET WALSH Sunset (1988)
MALCOLM MCDOWELL Sunset (1988)
MARSHA MASON Heartbreak Ridge (1986) AA
MAX VON SYDOW Dreamscape (1984)
MICHAEL PAPAJOHN Wild Bill (1995)
MICKEY ROURKE Johnny Handsome (1989)
MORGAN FREEMAN Johnny Handsome (1989) AA
PETER FALK Undisputed (2002)
ROBERT DUVALL Kicking & Screaming (2005) AA
RUTGER HAUER Moving McAllister (2007)
SALLY KIRKLAND La ilegal (1979)
SALLY KIRKLAND Richard III (2008)
SALLY KIRKLAND The Rose Technique (2002)
SAM NEILL In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
SAM NEILL The Hunt for Red October (1990)
SEAN CONNERY The Hunt for Red October (1990) AA
SEAN PENN Milk (2008/I) AA
STELLAN SKARSGARD The Hunt for Red October (1990)
STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY The Glimmer Man (1996)
STEVE BUSCEMI Escape from L.A. (1996)
THOMAS ROSALES JR. Escape from L.A. (1996)
TILDA SWINTON HAIL, CAESAR! (2016) AA
UDO KIER Surviving Christmas (2004)
VAL KILMER Run for the Money (2002)
WILLEM DAFOE Streets of Fire (1984)
WILLIAM H. MACY Seabiscuit (2003)
Hey Dan. I was not sure who Peter Jason was until looking him up on the internet. Once I saw his face I thought of so many of his movies. He had an awesome career. Sad to hear of his passing. RIP Mr. Jason.