Latest in Obituaries

Mark Gaines, who spent nearly 40 years at Universal, rising from local booker to EVP and general sales manager, died Wednesday at his home in Braselton, GA, Deadline has learned. He was 77. Gaines began his career at Universal in 1976, working as a booker in its Atlanta branch. He went on to…

Prolific Czech actor and president of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Jiri Bartoška has died at the age of 78. A festival spokesperson confirmed the news on Thursday.  Bartoška had been battling cancer for the last 11 years.  Related Stories …

James Foley, who directed the two Fifty Shades of Grey sequels and several others films including Glengarry Glen Ross and At Close Range, along with Netflix’s House of Cards and multiple Madonna movies and music videos, has died. He was 71. His family told Deadline through a rep that Foley died…

Paul Nichols, a publicist who got his start in television working at The Mike Douglas Show in Philadelphia and later had stints at Group W, All American Television, Sony Pictures Television and Lippin Group, has died. He was 76. His March 14 death at his home in Weatherford, Texas, was announced…

Charley Scalies, a character actor who appeared in HBO’s The Wire and The Sopranos and was a former business executive, died May 1 at the age of 84 following a protracted battle with Alzheimer’s. The news was confirmed via a public obituary and his daughter Anne Marie Scalies’ statement to The H…

Kirk Medas, best known for starring in MTV’s Floribama Shore, died Friday. He was 33. Medas had been hospitalized and in the ICU at a Miami hospital due to a severe case of necrotizing pancreatitis and sepsis. His Floribama Shore co-star Aimee Hall shared the sad news with a post on…

Phyllis de Picciotto, who founded the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, has died. She was 84. Daughter Lionie de Picciotto said her mother died April 14 but did not provide other details. After spending her early childhood in Chicago, de Picciotto and her family moved to L.A. She…

Ruth Buzzi, who shot to nationwide fame as one of the stars of the 1960s TV comedy variety series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in, died May 1 from complications from Alzheimer's disease at her home near Mingus, Texas. She was 88. Her death was announced on her official Facebook page by family. Buzzi…

Jill Sobule, the pop artist best known for songs including “I Kissed a Girl” and “Supermodel,” has died in a house fire. She was 66. According to local news reports, firefighters in responded to call at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday at a house in Woodbury, Minnesota, which was fully engulfed in…

Priscilla Pointer, the co-founder of the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop and a theater, TV and film actress who often played memorable mothers — especially to her daughter Amy Irving — died Monday in her sleep at age 100, according to family. Pointer’s most prominent work over her eight-decade…

Mike Peters, who as frontman for The Alarm sang on such tracks as “Strength,” “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Spirit of ’76” and “Rain in the Summertime,” died Tuesday of blood cancer in Manchester, England, a spokesman announced. He was 66 and had been battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia for…

UPDATED with statement from Focus Features Chairman Peter Kujawski: Bleecker Street Media founder and CEO Andrew Karpen died Monday from glioblastoma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer that upended his life when it was discovered in January 2024. He was 59. Karpen has been a fixture in…