Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the , who captivated audiences with his elaborate galactic makeup and smoking guitar, died Thursday at age 74.
FILE - Members of the rock group KISS; Gene Simmons, clockwise from right, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss and Paul Stanley are photographed before a concert in Hartford, Conn.,on Feb. 16, 1977. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
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Ace Frehley performs Aug. 1, 2019, at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Ill.
From left, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, guitarist Ace Frehley and guitarist Paul Stanley play May 25, 2000, at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.
Photos: Notable deaths in 2025
Pope Francis
Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humility and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives over climate change and critiques of capitalism, died April 21. He was 88.
Steve McMichael
Steve McMichael, a star defensive tackle on the Chicago Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team, died April 23 following a battle with ALS. He was 67.
Ruth Buzzi
Ruth Buzzi, who rose to fame as the frumpy and bitter Gladys Ormphby on the groundbreaking sketch comedy series “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and made over 200 television appearances during a 45-year career, died May 1. She was 88.
Jim Dent
Jim Dent, who grew up in the caddie yards of Augusta, Georgia, and went on to become one of the PGA Tour's longest hitters and one of the top Black golfers of his generation, died May 2. He was 85.
James Foley
James Foley, a journeyman director best known for “Glengarry Glen Ross,” died May 6. He was 71.
David H. Souter
Retired Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter, the ascetic bachelor and New Hampshire Republican who became a favorite of liberals during his nearly 20 years on the bench, died May 8. He was 85.
Johnny Rodriguez
Country music star Johnny Rodriguez, a popular Mexican American singer best known for chart-topping hits in the 1970s such as “I Just Can’t Get Her Out of My Mind,” “Ridin’ My Thumb to Mexico” and “That’s the Way Love Goes,” died May 9. He was 73.
Robert Benton
Robert Benton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who helped reset the rules in Hollywood as the co-creator of "Bonnie and Clyde," and later received mainstream validation as the writer-director of "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Places in the Heart," died May 11. He was 92.
Charles Strouse
Three-time Tony Award-winner Charles Strouse, Broadway's industrious, master melody-maker who composed the music for such classic musical theater hits as "Annie," "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Applause," died May 14. He was 96.
George Wendt
George Wendt, an actor with an Everyman charm who played the affable, beer-loving barfly Norm on the hit 1980s TV comedy “Cheers” and later crafted a stage career that took him to Broadway in “Art,” “Hairspray” and “Elf,” died May 20. He was 76.
Jim Irsay
Jim Irsay, the Indianapolis Colts’ owner who leveraged the popularity of Peyton Manning into a new stadium and a Super Bowl title, died May 21 at age 65.
Dave Shapiro
Dave Shapiro, a groundbreaking music executive in the heavy metal and hard rock scene, died May 22 in a San Diego plane crash. He was 42.
Marcel Ophuls
Marcel Ophuls, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose landmark 1969 documentary “The Sorrow and the Pity” shattered the comforting myth that most of France had resisted the Nazis during World War II, died May 24. He was 97.
Phil Robertson
Phil Robertson, who turned his small duck calling interest in the sportsman's paradise of northern Louisiana into a big business and conservative cultural phenomenon, died May 25, according to his family. He was 79.
Rick Derringer
Guitarist and singer Rick Derringer, who shot to fame at 17 when his band The McCoys recorded “Hang On Sloopy,” had a hit with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” and earned a Grammy Award for producing “Weird Al ” Yankovic's debut album, died May 26. He was 77.
Loretta Swit
Loretta Swit, who won two Emmy Awards playing Maj. Margaret Houlihan, the demanding head nurse of a behind-the-lines surgical unit during the Korean War on the pioneering hit TV series “M.A.S.H.,” died May 30 at her New York City home, likely from natural causes, publicist Harlan Boll said. She was 87.
Jonathan Joss
Jonathan Joss, a voice actor best known for his work on the animated television series "King of the Hill," was fatally shot near his Texas home June 2. He was 59.
Sly Stone
Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and ’70s and beyond with such hits as “Everyday People,” “Stand!” and “Family Affair,” died June 9. He was 82
Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader who helped compose and arrange “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and dozens of other summertime anthems and became one of the world’s most influential and admired musicians, died June 11. He was 82.
Anne Burrell
TV chef Anne Burrell, who coached culinary fumblers through hundreds of episodes of “Worst Cooks in America,” died June 17 at her New York home. She was 55.
Jimmy Swaggart
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who became a household name amassing an enormous following and multimillion-dollar ministry only to be undone by his penchant for prostitutes, died July 1. He was 90.
Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen, the actor best known for his coolly menacing, steely-eyed, often sadistic characters in the films of Quentin Tarantino including “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” died July 3. He was 67.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who as teenage son Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” was central to a cultural phenomenon that helped define the 1980s, died July 20 in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica. He was 54.
Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died July 22, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76.
Chuck Mangione
Two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavored single “Feels So Good” and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy “King of the Hill,” died July 22. He was 84.
Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan, the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing, bicep-busting icon of professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and stretched his influence into TV, pop culture and conservative politics during a long and scandal-plagued second act, died July 24 in Florida. He was 71.
Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer, a song satirist who gained a popular following in the 1950s and ’60s lampooning marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, and then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, died July 26. He was 97.
Ryne Sandberg
Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman who became one of baseball’s best all-around players while starring for the Chicago Cubs, died July 28. He was 65.
Jeannie Seely
Jeannie Seely, the soulful country music singer behind such standards like “Don’t Touch Me,” died Aug. 1. She was 85.
Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp, the British actor who often played the role of a complex villain, including that of General Zod in the early Superman films, died Aug. 17. He was 87.
Jerry Adler
Jerry Adler, who spent decades behind the scenes of storied Broadway productions before pivoting to acting in his 60s with roles on “The Sopranos” and “The Good Wife,” died Aug. 23. He was 96.
Davey Johnson
Davey Johnson, an All-Star second baseman who won the World Series twice with the Baltimore Orioles as a player and managed the New York Mets to the title in 1986, died Sept. 5. He was 82.
Rick Davies
Rick Davies, the co-founder, singer and songwriter of British band Supertramp, died Sept. 6 after a long battle with cancer, the band said. He was 81.
Charlie Kirk
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk died Sept. 10, after he was shot at an event on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem. He was 31.
Polly Holliday
Polly Holliday, a Tony Award-nominated screen and stage actor who turned the catchphrase “Kiss my grits!” into a national retort as the gum-chewing, beehive-wearing waitress aboard the long-running CBS sitcom “Alice,” died Sept. 10. She was 88.
Robert Redford
Robert Redford, the Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema under the name of one of his best-loved characters, died Sept. 16. He was 89.
Brett James
Grammy award-winning country songwriter Brett James, whose string of top hits includes “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood and "When the Sun Goes Down” by Kenny Chesney, died in a plane crash in North Carolina on Sept. 18. He was 57.
Claudia Cardinale
Acclaimed Italian actor Claudia Cardinale, who starred in some of the most celebrated European films of the 1960s and 1970s, has died in France Sept. 23. She was 87.
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall, the intellectual, soft-spoken conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking, immersive chimpanzee field research in which she documented the primates' distinct personalities and use of tools, died Oct. 1. She was 91.
Joan Kennedy
Joan B. Kennedy, the former wife of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy who endured a troubled marriage marked by family tragedies, her husband’s infidelities and her own decades-long struggles with alcoholism and mental health, died Oct. 8. She was 89.
Sister Jean
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the chaplain for the men's basketball team at Loyola Chicago who became a beloved international celebrity during the school's fairy-tale run to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 2018, died Oct. 9. She was 106.
John Lodge
John Lodge, the singer and bassist of British rock band The Moody Blues for more than 50 years, died Oct. 10. He was 82.
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton, the Oscar-winning star of “Annie Hall,” “The Godfather” films and “Father of the Bride,” whose quirky, vibrant manner and depth made her one of the most singular actors of a generation, died Oct. 11. She was 79.
