A number of high-profile figures from music, film, television, sport, fashion and public life have died in 2026, leaving a wide-ranging legacy across popular culture. The list includes New Found Glory founder Chad Gilbert, singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik, fashion designer Bob Mackie and feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem.
The most recent death recorded was that of Gilbert, who died on 20 September aged 45. The guitarist and founding member of New Found Glory died in his sleep, with the band saying his wife and mother were by his side.
Notable celebrity deaths in 2026
Sheik, 56, died on 17 September, according to a statement shared through his official social media accounts. He became widely known for the 1996 hit Barely Breathing before earning acclaim as the composer of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening.
Mackie died on 14 September aged 87 in Palm Springs, California, from pneumonia. Known as the “Designer to the Stars”, he created flamboyant costumes and gowns for performers including Cher, Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand and Madonna.
His career brought nine Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and three Academy Award nominations. Mackie was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Steinem, one of the most recognisable voices of the women’s rights movement in the United States, died on 2 September aged 92. The journalist, writer and activist helped shape the modern feminist movement and became an influential figure in American public life.
Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, a two-time Grammy Award winner celebrated for blending blues, folk, pop, R&B and country with jazz, died on 1 September aged 70. Actor Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise, died the same day at 85.
Actor Tim Curry, best known for playing Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, died on 26 August aged 80. His career also included roles in It, Home Alone 2 and the television adaptation of Stephen King’s It.
Country music star Dolly Parton died on 25 August aged 80, after a career spanning almost six decades. The singer-songwriter, whose best-known songs included Jolene and 9 to 5, sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Other major names from the entertainment world included actors Shelley Fabares, Hayden Panettiere, Michael Wright and Mark Rydell. Fabares, who began acting as a child on The Donna Reed Show, later starred in Coach, while Panettiere was known for Heroes and Nashville.
Rydell, who died aged 97, directed On Golden Pond, the 1981 film that earned 10 Academy Award nominations and secured Henry Fonda his only Oscar. Michael Wright was remembered for performances in The Five Heartbeats and other film and television productions.
The year also saw the deaths of Irish actors Brenda Fricker and Sam Neill. Fricker, 81, won an Academy Award for My Left Foot and was widely recognised as the pigeon lady in Home Alone 2. Neill, who died aged 78, became internationally famous as Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park.
Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler died in Portugal on 8 July aged 75 after an illness for which she had been receiving treatment. She was best known for the enduring hits Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out for a Hero.
Among the other musicians who died were Village People singer Victor Willis, Blood, Sweat & Tears frontman David Clayton-Thomas, R&B star Peabo Bryson and salsa pioneer Willie Colón. Record executive Clive Davis, who helped launch the careers of artists including Whitney Houston, Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen, died aged 94.
The acting world also lost Oscar-winning performer Robert Duvall, who died aged 95 after a career of more than seven decades. He was celebrated for roles in The Godfather and Tender Mercies.
Catherine O’Hara, the Canadian actor and comedian known for Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek, died aged 71 after a brief illness. Other screen deaths included Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Nicholas Brendon, Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek and Sanford and Son actor Demond Wilson.
In sport, the list included former baseball pitcher Tommy John, basketball coach Don Nelson, Hall of Fame coach Rick Adelman and trailblazing NBA player Jason Collins. Collins, who was 47, was the first openly gay active athlete in one of the major North American professional sports leagues.
Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir died on 10 January aged 78, while Colombian singer Yeison Jiménez, 34, died in a plane crash. The year began with the death of Sidney Kibrick, one of the last surviving original performers from the Our Gang and Little Rascals film shorts, at the age of 97.
