In a year of great triumph and trials, the theatre community has mourned the loss of numerous icons and influences. Playbill commemorates those who passed in 2025, whose legacies stand as a reminder of how rich a life can be in this business we call show.
Click through to read each luminary's full Playbill obituaries.
Abigail McGrath (September 18, 1940-December 20, 2024) News of Ms. McGrath's passing was not revealed until January.
Ms. McGrath was a model, copywriter, security guard, actor, coat check girl, improv comedian, lunch lady, playwright, local columnist, and producer. Considered the woman-to-know at the Max’s Kansas City, she was a rare star in Andy Warhol's constellation: she was one of only three Black performers in his filmography, and one of the only Warhol Stars to ever be paid for her work: $100.
John A. Waddell (March 31, 1941-January 1, 2025)
Mr. Waddell was a trailblazing opera and theatre performer, touring internationally with Don Carlos and Hair before he returned to the United States in the 1980s, where he became a beloved vocal coach.
The Vivienne, aka James Lee Williams (April 12, 1992–January 3, 2025)
The very first winner of RuPaul's Drag Race: U.K., The Vivienne used an uncannily hilarious Trump impression to come out on top of their season, the series' first. That win took their success international, both traveling the world with their drag performances and quickly becoming a treasured fixture of the stage and screen.
Richard Foreman (June 10, 1937-January 4, 2025)
Mr. Foreman used his work to explore the metaphysical nature of life, often blending avant-garde spectacle with music and other delights. Brash and political, most of his work was not a great commercial success, but then that was never the goal.
Merle Louise (April 15, 1934-January 11, 2025)
Ms. Louise made her Broadway debut as Thelma in Gypsy. Later, she would take over the role of June, which she also played in the musical's first national tour. Ms. Louise returned to Broadway in 1970 to play Susan in the original production of Company, the first of many Sondheim musicals she would appear in.
Joel Paley (October 6, 1955–January 11, 2025)
Mr. Paley first met Marvin E. Laird in 1976 while dancing with the all-male parody dance troupe Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Mr. Paley showed Mr. Laird his personal pet project: a script adapting Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed into a musical. Only one problem? Mr. Paley didn't compose. Mr. Laird agreed to come on as composer, and what was initially titled Seedy soon transformed into the smash hit Off-Broadway dark comedy Ruthless!
Lynne Taylor-Corbett (December 2, 1946-January 12, 2025)
Ms. Taylor-Corbett created the iconic screen choreography for the 1984 musical film Footloose, and was twice Tony nominated for the big band musical Swing!, which she directed and choreographed in 2000. Elsewhere on Broadway, she choreographed Shakespeare's Cabaret, The Boys of Winter, Chess, Sally Marr... and her escorts, Titanic, and Jackie.
Joan Plowright (October 28, 1929-January 16, 2025)
A Tony winner for A Taste of Honey, Ms. Plowright also received an Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play for Filumena, two Golden Globe Awards (for Enchanted April and Stalin), and nominations for an Academy Award (also for Enchanted April) and a Primetime Emmy Award (Stalin).
Jules Feiffer (January 26, 1929–January 17, 2025)
A renowned artist, Mr. Feiffer was once the most widely read satirist in the country. Coming on the scene when he was just 17, Mr. Feiffer got his start as the assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner, helping to write and illustrate Eisner's comic strips, including The Spirit, until breaking out on his own to become the staff cartoonist at The Village Voice, where he produced a weekly comic strip until 1997.
Claire van Kampen (November 3, 1953–January 18, 2025)
A trained pianist with an acute interest in Renaissance music, Ms. Van Kampen joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986, which was quickly followed by her joining the Royal National Theatre in 1987, making her the first female music director to work with both companies. In that same span of time, Ms. Van Kampen met the actor Mark Rylance: by 1989, the pair were married, and became inseparably close collaborators on and off the stage.
Ken Wydro (February 11, 1944-January 21, 2025)
Mr. Wydro was a familiar face in the Off-Broadway scene, having co-created the smash hit Mama, I Want to Sing with his wife, Vy Higginsen. Mr. Wydro directed the piece, which ran for more than 2,000 performances from 1983 to 1991 at the Hechscher Theatre.
Olga James (February 16, 1929–January 25, 2025)
A graduate of Juilliard, Ms. James was an accomplished opera singer, specializing in Mozart's various art songs, German lieder, and French chansons. Performing throughout the United States and Europe, her silvery soprano was preserved for all time in Otto Preminger's 1954 film adaptation of 1943 Broadway musical Carmen Jones.
David Edward Byrd (April 4, 1941–February 3, 2025)
While primarily a poster artist, providing the art-deco inspired iconography for The Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour, David Bowie's Carnegie Hall debut, and the Metropolitan Opera House designs for The Who's Tommy; Mr. Byrd designed stage posters for Little Shop of Horrors, The Robber Bridegroom, The Grand Tour, The Survival of St. Joan, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and Follies.
Tony Roberts (October 22, 1939–February 7, 2025)
Making his Broadway debut in 1962's short lived Something About a Soldier, Mr. Roberts' steady nonchalance soon became his calling card, with a long list of carefully confident characters quickly filling his resume. Known to the general public for his collaborations with Woody Allen, Mr. Roberts was a prolific stage actor, appearing in 24 Broadway productions throughout his career.
Gene Hackman (January 30, 1930–February 18, 2025)
Mr. Hackman was a resolute actor on both the stage and the screen, known for his steady dependability and effortless charm. His endearing naïvety as Buck Barrow in 1967's Bonnie and Clyde brought in his first Oscar nomination, preceding his wins for The French Connection and Unforgiven. In all, his screen work brought him five Oscar nominations, seven BAFTA nominations (with two wins), eight Golden Globe nominations (with three wins), and two Screen Actors Guild nominations, with a win for his performance as the conservative Senator Kevin Keeley in The Birdcage.
Paul Ford (April 27, 1953-February 19, 2025)
Mr. Ford was a remarkably talented musician, with a clever ear for references. Known for his tendency to underscore actors' entrances into the rehearsal room with a snippet from one of their previous shows, he worked hard to endear himself to those he worked with.
Frank Hartenstein (July 22, 1939-February 21, 2025)
Mr. Hartenstein was the stage manager for a wide range of landmark original Broadway productions, including A Chorus Line, Platinum, Pump Boys & Dinettes, Starlight Express, Into the Woods, and Minnelli on Minnelli, as well as acclaimed revivals of Othello in 1982, The King and I in 1990, 42nd Street in 2001, and La Bohème in 2002.
Jesse L. Kearney (September 2, 1975-March 6, 2025)
Mr. Kearney was an award-winning playwright whose works included Making Michaeux, The Oscar Micheaux Project, The Little Playhouse, and more. Kearney was a recipient of the Dramatists Guild's Jonathan Larson Musical Theater Fellowship and the Lazarus Family Musical Theater Award, among other honors. A graduate of New York Law School and NYU's Musical Theatre MFA writing program, he served as president of Prospect Theater Company, and was the vice president of Black Broadway Men United.
Athol Fugard (June 11, 1932–March 8, 2025)
Over his life, he wrote over 30 plays. As Mr. Fugard once told Playbill of why he has dedicated his career to documenting apartheid and its injustices, he responded: "In South Africa, a lot of people want to run away from anything that resembles reality, to just sit back and watch Noël Coward," said Mr. Fugard. "Theatre is one of the ways in which society deals with its pain, its conscience. Theatre and all the arts, however, played a major role in the fight against apartheid."
Carole D’Andrea (August 28, 1937-March 11, 2025)
While originating the role of Jet girl Velma in West Side Story on Broadway, Ms. D'Andrea understudied the role of Anybodys. Ms. D'Andrea held the distinction of being one of only six actors from the original Broadway cast of West Side Story to appear in the 1960 film adaptation, in the same role.
Alan Filderman (February 14, 1955-March 19, 2025)
Mr. Filderman was known for his exacting tastes and unrelenting loyalty toward the art of theatre making. On Broadway, he was a part of the original casting teams for Once On This Island (starring LaChanze, Kecia Lewis, and Jerry Dixon), The High Rollers Social and Pleasure Club (starring Michael McElroy, Nikki Rene, and Allen Toussaint), Master Class (starring Zoe Caldwell, Audra McDonald, and later Patti LuPone), and Marie Christine (starring McDonald, Mary Testa, and Anthony Crivello).
Marquis Floyd (Unknown-March 23, 2025)
Mr. Floyd, who was part of the Lion King touring ensemble, was also a choreographer. A graduate of the Boston Conservatory, he was a Gene Kelly Artist Award winner, whose credits included work with the Dance Theater of Harlem and the Bad Boys of Ballet. Mr. Floyd's additional credits included the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show and the 2021 VMA Awards as well as the Apple+ series Dickinson and Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Denis Arndt (February 23, 1939–March 25, 2025)
In 2015, Mr. Arndt was cast as Alex Priest in Manhattan Theater Club's production of Simon Stephens' two-hander Heisenberg, starring opposite Mary-Louise Parker. The production transferred to Broadway the following year, opening October 13. Mr. Arndt earned a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance, which was his sole appearance on Broadway.
Richard Chamberlain (March 31, 1934–March 29, 2025)
Mr. Chamberlain made his Broadway debut in the ill-fated musical adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1966; the production only played four previews. He returned to the stage in 1976 to play Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon in Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana, and earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for his performance. In addition to hosting the 1981 Tony Awards alongside Ellen Burstyn, Mr. Chamberlain would later take on roles on Broadway including Charles in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1987, Henry Higgins in the 1993 revival of My Fair Lady, and Captain Georg von Trapp in the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music.
Val Kilmer (December 31, 1959–April 1, 2025)
A leading man known for his enigmatic presence, Mr. Kilmer got his start on the stage. Born and raised in California, he was the then-youngest person to be accepted to Juilliard's Drama Division, entering Group 10 at just 17 years old. In the early 1980s, he devoted much of his focus to theatre, turning down increasingly high-profile screen offers to instead hone his skills of live performance: Famously, he turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola's screen adaptation of The Outsiders to instead honor a previous Shakespearean commitment.
Stephen Mo Hanan (January 7, 1947–April 3, 2025)
Mr. Hanan was a performer from a different era, steeped in the sounds of operetta and vaudeville with attention-grabbing techniques he developed as a busker in San Francisco. In the late 1970s, he crossed coasts to work with the New York Shakespeare Festival, leading him to star opposite Kevin Kline in the 1981 Broadway revival of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, serving as Samuel, the Pirate King's bookish second in command. Thoroughly bitten by the Broadway bug, Mr. Hanan next auditioned for Cats, where his memorably self-accompanied concertina variation of "Funiculì, Funiculá" led to his being cast as the portly Bustopher Jones, aging theatre cat Asparagus, and pirate Growltiger, the latter complete with a parody of Puccini’s Turandot. For his efforts, Mr. Hanan received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
William Finn (February 28, 1952–April 7, 2025)
Mr. Finn was one of the most beloved composers of his generation. A heavily autobiographical musical theatre writer, Mr. Finn folding his experiences as a gay Jewish man with a brain stem malformation into some of his most lauded work, including Falsettos, A New Brain, and more. In addition to his autobiographical work, Mr. Finn wrote The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Infinite Joy, Elegies: A Song Cycle, and Make Me a Song.
Steven F. Ehrenberg (October 6, 1955-April 23, 2025)
Mr. Ehrenberg worked in the theatre industry for decades, guiding individual theatremakers and productions as well as participating in the renovation and revival of some of the oldest theatre venues in the United States. Mr. Ehrenberg’s work can be seen in the current layouts of the Boston Opera House and Emerson Colonial Theatre, Baltimore’s Hippodrome, the The Phantom of the Opera Las Vegas theatre at the Venetian, the Jersey Boys theatre at the Palazzo, the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, and the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. Internationally, Mr. Ehrenberg was involved in the renovation and building of theatres in Singapore and Macau.
Priscilla Pointer (May 18, 1924–April 28, 2025)
Ms. Pointer was one of the last surviving legends from Tennessee Williams' cavalcade, having performed in the original tour of A Streetcar Named Desire. An ever-reliable interpreter of Williams' work, she performed in countless productions of his plays, including the 1970 Broadway revival of Camino Real, and the 1973 revival of Streetcar.
Sue Anderson (May 27, 1954–May 1, 2025)
Ms. Anderson was an associate conductor for the 1981 revival of My Fair Lady, which saw Rex Harrison return to the role of Henry Higgins. That same year, she also served as the keyboardist and conductor for the hit Joseph Papp revival of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, eventually taking that production on the road as the touring conductor. Once she returned to New York, she remained a familiar presence, working on the Broadway productions of Me and My Girl, Cats, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Woman in White, Spamalot, The Lion King, and Jerry’s Girls.
Jill Sobule (January 16, 1959–May 1, 2025)
Ms. Sobule was an immensely influential singer-songwriter, writing the first openly gay song to ever crack the Billboard Top 20. Titled “I Kissed a Girl” (no relation to the later Katy Perry song of the same name), Ms. Sobule's song was a significant hit in 1995, positioning her as one of the few open lesbian artists operating in the commercial sphere before the millennium. Her follow-up single, "Supermodel," was featured in the hit film Clueless as the backing track for the film's makeover montage.
Ruth Buzzi (July 24, 1936–May 1, 2025)
Working musical and comedy revues from the age of 19, Ms. Buzzi worked the regional, touring, and Off-Broadway circuits throughout the early 1960s, working alongside other young performers who would go on to significant prominence, including Rudy Vallee, Barbra Streisand, Joan Rivers, Dom DeLuise, Bernadette Peters, and Carol Burnett. Her first big break came in 1964, when Burnett brought her on The Garry Moore Show to portray Shakundala the Silent, a bumbling magician's assistant for DeLuise's character Dominic the Great. This led to Ms. Buzzi becoming a member of the regular repertory company on the CBS variety show The Entertainers, a job she left in 1965 to appear in the original Broadway production of Sweet Charity.
Pierre Audi (November 9, 1957–May 3, 2025)
Mr. Audi was the renowned business mind behind the transformation of a derelict London lecture hall into one of the West End's most in-demand theatres: the Almeida Theatre. A French-Lebanese immigrant to the United Kingdom, Mr. Audi founded the experimental Almeida company in 1979, reshaping the former Salvation Army Barracks into a 325-seat haven for avant-garde artistic expression. Mr. Audi exited the company in 1989 to widen his work on the international stage.
Matthew Silver (1965-May 11, 2025)
The son of Lee Silver, an executive at the Shubert Organization; Mr. Silver's first theatrical job came while he was still in college, running props for the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors at the Orpheum Theatre. Mr. Silver then became an ensemble member of the Atlantic Theater Company, where he also served as a stage manager and production manager (as well as managing the Atlantic’s softball team in the Broadway Show League).
Taina Elg (March 9, 1930–May 15, 2025)
Ms. Elg was one of the few remaining stars of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's movie musical golden age. Born and raised in Finland, Ms. Elg was a trained classical dancer, performing throughout Europe before she was whisked away to Hollywood for a screen test during the height of musical cinema's power. She became a member of MGM's "stable of stars" for seven years, appearing in a variety of films throughout the 1950s, including The Prodigal, Diane, Gaby, Les Girls, Imitation General, The 39 Steps, and Watusi. For her performances in Les Girls, she received the 1958 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actress, tying with her co-star in the film, Kay Kendall. Ms. Elg remains the only Finnish actor to receive the honor.
Charles Strouse (June 7, 1928–May 15, 2025)
Mr. Strouse, a born and bred New Yorker, struck gold with his first full Broadway musical, Bye Bye Birdie, in 1960. The script and score’s mix of light cynicism about the American media machine and sincere sentimentality regarding the tenacity of sweet, small-town values struck a chord with Eisenhower-era audiences. The show won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1961, and made Mr. Strouse a household name. Later, mining the unlikely source material of the Depression-era comic strip Little Orphan Annie led to his second career defining hit, Annie, the hit of the decade, one of the feel-good stage shows of all time, and a musical that has since inspired the stage careers of thousands of pre-teen girls.
Dennis Whitehead Darling (Unknown-May 17, 2025)
At the time of his death, Mr. Darling was working as associate director on Off-Broadway's Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole at New York Theatre Workshop. He had been involved in the production since its earliest development, working with his close friend and collaborator Patricia McGregor, the show’s director/co-writer and NYTW's artistic director.
George Wendt (October 17, 1948–May 20, 2025)
Known to the general public for his six-consecutive-times Emmy nominated role as Norm Peterson in the hit sitcom Cheers, Mr. Wendt was also a man of the theatre. On Broadway, Mr. Wendt played Yvan in the play Art, Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray, Santa in the musical Elf, and Joe Bell in the 2013 play adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's. In 2006, he toured the country for an all-star revival of the play Twelve Angry Men, where his portrayal of the law-and-order fixated foreman Juror #1 brought in significant praise.
Edie Cowan (April 14, 1942–May 22, 2025)
A native New Yorker, Ms. Cowan was a member of the original Broadway company of Annie, understudying the role of Lily St. Regis while originating the roles of Daddy Warbucks' housekeeper Mrs. Pugh (who comes to take Annie's tray away when she's through), and the singing radio sister Connie Boylan. She later toured Annie across the country in the role of Lily St. Regis. Elsewhere on Broadway, she appeared in Sherry!, and the original production of Funny Girl. As a choreographer, she did the original musical staging for the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, bringing Skid Row to life first at the WPA Theatre, and later at the Orpheum. For many years, she worked internationally under the auspices of the United States State Department, directing and choreographing across the globe.
William Dudley (March 4, 1947–May 31, 2025)
Mr. Dudley was one of the most prolific designers in the English theatre. Known for his boundary-pushing innovative stagecraft, he brought an architectural grandeur to his designs that immediately differentiated him from the designers of previous generations. Mr. Dudley eschewed the traditional painted drops and ornate furniture to instead favor more conceptual designs with multifunctional pieces and raw materials that invited audiences to use their imagination.
Harris Yulin (November 5, 1937–June 10, 2025)
Mr. Yulin's Broadway debut came in 1980's Watch on the Rhine, situating him as an acclaimed dramatic actor with a propensity for elevated language. Over the following 20 years, he appeared on Broadway in A Lesson from Aloes, The Visit, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Price, and Hedda Gabler. In addition to his Broadway work, Mr. Yulin was a familiar face on the regional theatre circuit, working across the United States and overseas, including an acclaimed performance in Dublin, Ireland as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in 2010. As a director, Mr. Yulin led numerous productions Off-Broadway and in Chicago, including The Trip to Bountiful at Signature Theatre, which won four Lucille Lortel Awards.
Zaza, aka Diana Oh (September 29, 1986–June 17, 2025)
Oh created experimental theatre works that blended music, art installation, personal confession, and ritual. A musical theatre composer by training, they had a degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. They first gained prominence by creating a series of 10 outdoor art installations called My Lingerie Play, where they and other collaborators stood in public in lingerie in order to protest rape culture and to reclaim personal sexuality. My Lingerie Play culminated in a 2017 production at the Off-Broadway Rattlestick Theater Company, at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Tom Fay (May 16, 1943–June 20, 2025)
Hired as assistant conductor on the 1981 original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, Mr. Fay would become a frequent associate of Sondheim's primary music director, Paul Gemignani. After the famously short-lived Merrily, Mr. Fay would work with Gemignani on Zorba (providing dance arrangements), The Rink (conducting and penning dance arrangements), Grind (serving as assistant conductor and writing dance arrangements), and Mail (conducting and serving as dance and vocal arranger).
Karl E. Held (June 7, 1962–June 23, 2025)
Claiming Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as his hometown, Mr. Held split his time between there, New York City, and Hollywood, working as both a performer and a producer. Over his career, he worked on projects in collaboration with Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Spoleto Festivals, along with such artists as Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Frank Wildhorn, John Williams, Elaine Stritch, and many others. On Broadway, Mr. Held was on the producing team for the 2009 revival of Ragtime, earning a Tony nomination. Other New York producing credits included Into the Woods, White Lies, and Kowalski. The latter, which performed Off-Broadway earlier this year, had a Broadway transfer in the works at the time of his death.
Paul Libin (December 12, 1930-June 27, 2025)
Mr. Libin was a prolific artistic producer in the theatre industry, producing more than 250 Broadway, Off-Broadway, and touring productions throughout his career, in which he led Circle in the Square Theatre for 62 years and served as executive vice president and producing director of Jujamcyn Theaters for 28 years. Mr. Libin was also a pioneer of theatrical philanthropy, presiding as President of Broadway Cares for 24 years.
Mark Brokaw (September 13, 1958–June 29, 2025)
Mr. Brokaw directed premieres from such playwrights as Douglas Carter Beane, Paula Vogel, Eric Bogosian, Wendy Wasserstein, Charles Busch, Lisa Kron, Lisa Loomer, Kenneth Lonergan, Craig Lucas, Patrick Marber, and Robert Schenkkan, among many others. He staged productions at Second Stage Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, Vineyard Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Roundabout Theatre Company. In London, he also directed at Donmar Warehouse and Menier Chocolate Factory.
Richard Greenberg (February 22, 1958–July 4, 2025)
Mr. Greenberg is probably best known for his 2002 play Take Me Out, about a star Major League Baseball player that comes out as gay. After closely following the Yankees' historic 1999 season, Greenberg was inspired to make the sport the topic of his next work. At the time, no player had come out publicly while still active professionally, making Greenberg's work an imagined version of a scenario that, particularly at the time, was thought to be imminent. Twenty-three years later and there has been no such public revelation, though several players have openly discussed their homosexuality after retirement, including Glenn Burke, Billy Bean, and TJ House.
Alan Bergman (September 11, 1925–July 17, 2025)
Mr. Bergman's work was mostly a collaboration with his wife, Marilyn, who died in 2022. The pair were Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy winners, serving as some of the most popular and frequent lyricists in Hollywood for several decades. The two began working together in 1956 and married in 1958, and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.
Michael James Leslie (Unknown)
Mr. Leslie made his Broadway debut in the 1977 revival of Hair, moving over to the original run of The Wiz the next year. In the latter, the actor initially understudied several roles, ultimately playing the Lord High Underling, Uncle Henry, and the Lion during the run. The latter would become a favorite role, and one he returned to after his Broadway run at theatres including the Muny, Dallas Summer Musicals, and Kenley Players. His next major credit would be the most frequent of his career, voicing Audrey II in Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors. Mr. Leslie created the role in the original Los Angeles and London companies of the musical, both in 1983 and both opposite Ellen Greene's Audrey. On Broadway, he understudied the role, and played it full time in the musical's 1984 and 2004 tours, along with reprising the performance for the Muny in St. Louis in 1996 and New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse in 2008. His powerful, rock baritone made his take on the part the signature performance of his career.
Cleo Laine (October 28, 1927–July 24, 2025)
Ms. Laine spent her childhood studying singing and dancing, but started her career as a hairdresser, hat-trimmer, librarian, and pawnbroker. At the age of 24, she joined the Johnny Dankworth Seven, the beginning of a lifelong romantic and professional life with the jazz composer and musician—the two married in 1958, seven years after she first joined his group. She would soon add acting to her list of skills, starring in Flesh to a Tiger at London's Royal Court Theatre that same year, going on to appear in Valmouth, A Time to Laugh, Booths With Strawberry Jam, and a long-running 1971 revival of Show Boat. Bi-racial—Laine's father was Jamaican, and her mother English—Ms. Laine was among the first actors to be authentically cast in the bi-racial role of Julie in the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical.
Robert Wilson (October 4, 1941—July 31, 2025)
Mr. Wilson's approach to theatre was decisively visual: he considered performance an opportunity for art in motion; to him, stunning visual tableaus were just as important as dialogue and narrative. In 1968, Mr. Wilson founded an experimental performance company, the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds (named for the dance teacher who helped him overcome his childhood stutter). With the company, he directed his first major works, beginning with 1969's The King of Spain and The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud. While the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds no longer exists, Mr. Wilson would name another endeavor after his teacher, the Byrd Hoffman Foundation, which has underwritten various projects of his for decades, including the still operating Watermill Center, a 10-acre arts incubator on Long Island’s South Fork.
Jack W. Batman (Unknown-August 1, 2025)
A fixture of the Broadway community, Mr. Batman most recently produced the Tony Award-nominated productions of Good Night, and Good Luck and John Proctor Is the Villain, alongside his business partner and friend of more than two decades, Bruce Robert Harris. Jack also left his stamp on the theatre scene all over the world, from London’s West End to Peoria, Illinois, where he ran the Left Bank Dinner Playhouse in the 1970s.
George C. White (August 16, 1935-August 6, 2025)
Mr. White had an immeasurable impact on the theatre industry as the founder of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, kickstarting the careers of countless playwrights, performers, directors, composers, and more. Raised down the road from the Hammond Estate, which he would re-fashion into the O'Neill Center in 1964, Mr. White transformed his hometown into a cradle for artistic inspiration, with August Wilson, John Guare, Lanford Wilson, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, John Patrick Shanley, and more passing through the O'Neill, Mr. White's classroom, or Mr. White's rehearsal room.
Patricia White (Unknown-August 10, 2025)
A natural mentor and advocate, she became a guiding light for emerging voices in theatre, dedicating herself to expanding the reach of diverse narratives and elevating underrepresented voices. In December 1994 her ultimate mentor, Woodie King, Jr., hired her as company manager of New Federal Theatre. Among her most-noted projects, she managed the successful 20th anniversary production of Ntozake Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf.
Jerry Adler (February 4, 1929–August 23, 2025)
On Broadway, Mr. Adler managed or supervised Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Seventeen, Of Thee I Sing, Lunatics and Lovers, My Fair Lady, Moby Dick, The Jack Benny Show, The Girl Who Came to Supper, Oh What a Lovely War, I Had a Ball, Mark Twain Tonight!, A Time for Singing, The Apple Tree, At the Drop of Another Hat, The Homecoming, Black Comedy/White Lies, Little Murders, The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, Marlene Dietrich, Dear World, Coco, Home, 6 Rms Riv Vu, Ulysses in Nighttown, Who's Who in Hell, Annie, I Remember Mama, Last Licks, and Camelot. Unsatisfied strictly by his time in the management office, Mr. Adler also tried his hand at producing and directing on Broadway, producing the ill-fated musical Drat! The Cat! and directing a number of much better received productions, including Good Evening, Words & Music, Fun City, We Interrupt This Program..., Checking Out, Play Me a Country Song, The Little Prince and the Aviator, and the 1976 revival of My Fair Lady.
Jamshied Sharifi (October 17, 1960-August 25, 2025)
A multi-instrumentalist, Mr Sharifi was a gifted pianist, guitar player, percussionist, and flautist. Born in Kansas to an Iranian father and an American mother, he was raised in the stew of cultural exchange, learning Middle Eastern, North African, and jazz music from his father, and European classical and liturgical music from his mother. This sonic blending, as well as his deep understanding of musical layering, would come to define his career.
Graham Greene (June 22, 1952–September 1, 2025)
Mr. Greene was one of the most influential Indigenous actors in North American history. A commonly repeated misconception is that Mr. Greene attended the Toronto-based Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School program. In reality, Mr. Greene helped to run the program, serving as the executive director of a school-supporting local arts organization. Mr. Greene made his television debut in 1979, and became a familiar face on Canadian screens, but he truly established himself as a worldwide cinema star in 1990, when his performance as Kicking Bird (Ziŋtká Nagwáka) in Dances With Wolves brought him an Academy Award nomination. Mr. Greene was the first Oneida actor to be nominated for an Academy Award, and only the second Indigenous performer to ever be nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, following Chief Dan George in 1970. Mr. Greene and Mr. George remain the only two Indigenous actors to be nominated in the category.
Robert Redford (August 18, 1936–September 16, 2025)
Mr. Redford was widely acknowledged as one of the most influential actors of his generation. While known today as a titan of the screen, Mr. Redford began his career on the New York stage, making his Broadway debut in 1959's Tall Story. He immediately made a colorful impression, and stuck around on Broadway for several years, playing in The Highest Tree, Little Moon of Alban, and Sunday in New York before being cast as a stuffy newlywed in the original production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. With matinée idol good looks, an easy smile, and an unshakeable work ethic, he quickly became a favorite of the various writers and directors he worked with, making the jump from stage to screen as one of the only original stars to reprise their roles.
Patricia Routledge (February 17, 1929–October 3, 2025)
Ms. Routledge was a valued musical theatre performer, with her wide range allowing her to perform roles across the mezzo-soprano and contralto spectrum. This talent made her popular on both sides of the pond, and in 1966, Ms. Routledge made her Broadway debut in Roger Milner's comedy How's the World Treating You? Two years later, she would star in the short-lived 1968 Jule Styne musical Darling of the Day, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, sharing the honor with Leslie Uggams of Hallelujah, Baby! Her legacy would be cemented on screen, however, in the 1990 TV comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. Her portrayal of Hyacinth Bucket, a formerly working-class woman with delusions of social grandeur, remains one of the most iconic in British sitcom history. For her performance, she was voted the Most Popular Actress in England at the 60th Anniversary BBC Awards. While the program only ran from 1990 to 1995, it has remained in near constant syndication on both sides of the pond, immortalizing Ms. Routledge as Bucket (pronounced Bouquet).
Ben Lewis (September 28, 1979–October 6, 2025)
The son of opera singers Michael Lewis and Patricia Price, Mr. Lewis worked widely throughout Australia, appearing in Sydney productions of Urinetown, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and A Little Night Music, and in Melbourne productions of Spamalot and Metro Street. Fame would find Mr. Lewis in 2011, when he was cast as the Phantom in the Australian production of Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.
Diane Keaton (January 5, 1946–October 11, 2025)
In 1968, Ms. Keaton made her Broadway debut as a member of the original company of Hair, performing as a member of the tribe while understudying the role of political activist Sheila. Three months into the show's Broadway run, Ms. Keaton took over the role of Sheila from Lynn Kellogg full time. Ms. Keaton received some of the earliest press in her career for her refusal to fully disrobe at the end of the show's first act, when the cast traditionally performs nude. While the nudity in the production was officially optional (with those who chose to disrobe receiving a $50 weekly bonus), Ms. Keaton was one of the only performers in the musical's history to opt out.
Elizabeth Franz (June 18, 1941–November 4, 2025)
In 1982, Ms. Franz won the Obie for her performance in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, and in 1983, she picked up a Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony nomination for her performance as Matthew Broderick's mother Kate in Brighton Beach Memoirs. She received an additional Tony nomination in the same category in 2002 for Morning's at Seven. Ms. Franz is perhaps most remembered for the 1999 Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, wherein she played Willy Loman's desperately doting wife Linda opposite Brian Dennehy. The production, which marked the 50th anniversary of Arthur Miller's classic, was a smash hit, winning the Tony for Best Revival of a Play, with performance awards for both Dennehy and Ms. Franz, as well as a Best Direction of a Play win for director Robert Falls. The production was filmed for release by Showtime, and Ms. Franz received both Emmy and SAG Award nominations for her filmed performance.
Tom Stoppard (July 3, 1937–November 29, 2025)
Stoppard led a prolific life as a writer of both plays and films. He was a playwright of London's National Theater, and is one of the most produced playwrights internationally in the world. His plays included Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Travesties, The Real Thing, The Coast of Utopia, and Arcadia. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the Best Picture Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love. Stoppard's most recent play on Broadway was the critically acclaimed 2022 production of Leopoldstadt, which earned six Tony Awards in 2023, including Best Play. With Leopoldstadt, he became the most Tony Award-winning playwright in theatrical history, with five Best Play Tonys.
Donald Lee Coburn (August 4, 1938–December 3, 2025)
At 39 years old, without another theatrical experience to his name, The Gin Game won Mr. Coburn the Pulitzer, with its inaugural Broadway bow (directed by Mike Nichols, with married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy starring) netting a nomination for Best Play. While none of Mr. Coburn's successive works would achieve the same acclaim, The Gin Game remains a treasured piece of the theatrical canon, particularly favored by elder actors looking for a challenge not frequently otherwise offered to them.
Rob Reiner (March 6, 1947–December 14, 2025)
The son of the legendary comic Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was a prolific actor, appearing in nearly 100 film and television productions, as well as on stage. Raised alongside many of Carl Reiner's greatest television successes, including The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mr. Reiner first found his own footing in television as the live-in son-in-law Michael "Meathead" Stivic in the hit sitcom All in the Family. Mr. Reiner starred in 185 episodes of the program, establishing himself outside of his father's shadow before the pair would reunite creatively. In 1980, one year after All in the Family has completed its legendary run, Rob was directed by his father in his Broadway debut, 1980's short-lived The Roast.
Imani Dia Smith (2000-December 21, 2025)
From September 27, 2011, to September 23, 2012, Ms. Smith played Young Nala in the long-running Disney hit. Her mother, Monique Rance-Helper, a talented hair stylist who has worked for both the stage and the silver screen, has styled hair and wigs for The Lion King on Broadway, as well as hairpieces in the recent Broadway productions of Eclipsed, Once On This Island, The Lightning Thief, the In the Heights film, POSE on FX, and more.
Carmen de Lavallade (March 6, 1931 – December 29, 2025)
Ms. de Lavallade was a highly accomplished ballerina, from a talented family. Alongside Alvin Ailey, Ms. de Lavallade made her Broadway debut in Truman Capote's musical House of Flowers, with Ms. de Lavallade and Ailey partnered in a series of star-making dance scenes. In 1955, Ms. de Lavallade married one of her House of Flowers costars, Geoffrey Holder. The pair would soon become one of the most powerful power couples in the dance industry.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. (September 13, 1954 – December 30, 2025)
A man of notable size, he spent the early years of his career focused firmly on theatre, making his Broadway debut in Larry Gelbert's Mastergate in 1989, with Peter Hall's Broadway revival of The Merchant of Venice to follow that very same year. His final Broadway performance would come in 1999, when he served as an understudy in the 1999 revival of The Iceman Cometh. He would fly from the wings in the 2000s, however. Mr. Whitlock was a favored performer of director Spike Lee, appearing in She Hate Me, 25th Hour, Red Hook Summer, Chi-Raq, BlacKkKlansman, and Da 5 Bloods.
