'70s Actors Who Died In 2025 And No One Noticed

It's certainly newsworthy when the stars of the big screen and the small screen die. After all, these are the people that we collectively pay money to see star in movies or invite into our homes when we queue up or tune into their TV series. Some of those actors rise above all the others and become some of the most fondly remembered entertainers or public figures of our time. This is particularly true of actors who reached their commercial peak and cultural influence in the 1970s. That decade is about 50 years in the past now, allowing the screen artists' impact to become fully entrenched in the firmament.

While it's definitely sad when such people die, it's also a little sweet, because we as a society get to reflect on their delightful and important work in movies and TV. Often, when those '70s stars die, the news cycle of details and post-mortem appreciation dominates the conversation for a few days. Sometimes, the deaths of '70s actors don't quite penetrate. Maybe it's because they fell out of the limelight, retired some time ago, or were quietly dealing with a prolonged period of illness. Here are some of the most popular performers of the 1970s who died in 2025, and whose deaths went somewhat unnoticed.

By the time Tony Roberts started regularly securing major roles in some of the most iconic films of the 1970s, he was already a seasoned Broadway performer, starring in productions like "Barefoot in the Park," "Play it Again, Sam," and "Don't Drink the Water." The playwright behind the latter, Woody Allen, found a place for Roberts in his ensemble films for decades, notably in the relationship comedy "Annie Hall." Roberts played Rob, the best friend to Allen's character in the film, which won four Academy Awards. 

A versatile actor, Roberts also co-starred in the crime classics "Serpico" and "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three."  While continuing to pop up in Allen comedies like "Stardust Memories" and "Hannah and Her Sisters," Roberts worked often in film and television, joining the casts of "Amityville 3-D," "18 Again!" and the TV adaptation of "The Four Seasons."

Roberts died at home in New York City on February 7, 2025, following a lung cancer diagnosis. The actor was 85 years old.

A constant presence in the multiplex and in primetime for the likes of "Stroker Ace," "The Lonely Guy," "All Dogs Go to Heaven," and short-lived sitcoms and made-for-TV movies in the 1980s and 1990s, Loni Anderson first became a major star back in the late 1970s. While Anderson was a sex symbol for her role as bombshell trope-subverting receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on "WKRP in Cincinnati," a hip 1978-1982 workplace sitcom about a rock radio station, her performance as the nuanced, layered, and hyper-intelligent office worker earned Anderson significant accolades. "WKRP in Cincinnati" led to three Golden Globe Awards nominations and two Emmy Awards nods.

Two days shy of turning 80 years old, Anderson died on August 3, 2025, at a hospital in Beverly Hills, California, following a long period of illness. Weeks later, the cause of death was revealed to be metastatic uterine leiomyosarcoma. That's a seldom-diagnosed type of cancer that affects muscles in the uterus.

After stints as a college football player in Texas and in the U.S. Army, Joe Don Baker found acting and paid his dues with a series of roles on action TV shows of the 1960s. By the early 1970s, he'd break out in a big way and ascend to a status as one of the U.S.'s most prominent movie stars. In 1973, Baker won the role of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, a real-life vigilante who went to extremes, in the hit "Walking Tall," an instigator of the 1970s' tough guy revenge movie fad. Baker would play plenty more cops and issuers of justice throughout the next few decades, such as in "Final Justice," "Fletch," and "Cape Fear." He retired after his appearance in the 2012 indie drama "Mud."

On May 13, 2025, the actor's family announced that Baker had died six days earlier. No cause of death was publicly released; Baker was 89 years old.

The very first role that Danielle Spencer landed, when she was 11 years old, would prove to be a definitive character on one of the most popular comedies of the 1970s. From 1976 to 1979, Spencer portrayed Dee Thomas on "What's Happening!!" — a '70s TV show with a theme song that still rocks hard today. Ostensibly about three boys living in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, Spencer stole scenes as Dee Thomas, a wisecracking, mischief-making younger sister. After "What's Happening!!" ended its run, Spencer turned away from acting and went back to school, ultimately attaining a doctorate in veterinary medicine. She worked in that capacity for decades, occasionally acting in projects like the revival of "What's Happening Now!" and turning up for a cameo in "As Good as It Gets" as a veterinarian.

Diagnosed with gastric cancer some time before her death, Spencer died from complications of the disease and a cardiac arrest on August 11, 2025. Spencer was 60 years old.

When "Alice" debuted in a plum time-slot following megahit "All in the Family" in 1976, the headlines were that it was a TV version of Martin Scorsese's "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and how it was a vehicle for star Linda Lavin. But then producers cast theater veteran Polly Holliday as another server in Mel's Diner: the sassy Flo Castleberry. Holliday imbued the character with so much charisma that she generated a distinctive 1970s catchphrase and swearing alternative — "Kiss my grits!" — as well as a spinoff. "Flo" was initially popular and was cancelled after a year, but it earned Holliday one of four Emmy Award nominations for portraying that one character. The actor went on to work extensively in episodic television as well as on Broadway, headlining revivals of "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "Picnic" and landing the memorable role of Mrs. Deagle in "Gremlins."

Holliday died at her New York home on September 9, 2025. The actor was 88 years old, and she was the last survivor of the "Alice" cast.