00:00Okay, so we've just waded through this pretty big compilation of celebrity news, focusing on the losses from September 2025.
00:08And for this deep dive, we want to go beyond just, you know, listing names.
00:12We're aiming to give you the context, the legacies, maybe some surprising bits about the people we lost last month.
00:17Right, that's the idea.
00:18To quickly pull together this really diverse group, I mean, ages 28 up to 91, what's kind of striking about September, I think, is how it just lays bare the evolution of fame itself.
00:29You've got these, like, pillars of traditional Hollywood passing at the same time as these totally new kinds of digital stars.
00:36Exactly. The range is just, wow, we're talking screen icons, people who basically built rock and roll, modern reality stars, Grammy winners.
00:44Okay, let's unpack this.
00:45And I think we really have to kick things off with a name that, well, defined American movies for decades.
00:50You knew Robert Redford, of course.
00:52Passed away September 16th, age 89, natural causes.
00:55Now, everyone knows the movie star, right?
00:57Butch Cassidy, The Sting, that leading man.
01:00But if you step back and look at the bigger picture, Redford the actor is almost maybe secondary to Redford the institution builder.
01:09That's, yeah, that's a really interesting way to put it.
01:11Does that happen often?
01:12You know, where their later work, like activism or building something like Sundance, starts to overshadow the acting for later generations?
01:20It certainly can, especially with something as lasting and impactful as the Sundance Film Festival.
01:25I mean, that festival is just critical for independent film worldwide.
01:28And it came directly from his commitment to artists, you know, outside the big studios.
01:33Plus his lifelong environmental work, social activism.
01:36You see a legacy that's not just about being on screen, but about making real change.
01:40He really showed how celebrity could be used to build something, well, permanent.
01:44Okay, and then another really long, impressive career.
01:47Pat Crowley, also natural causes, passed away at 91.
01:50Yeah, decades in film and TV.
01:52The sources mention she actually won a Golden Globe really early on, which shows that initial buzz.
01:57But I think for a lot of people, she's probably most remembered for Please Don't Eat the Daisies, the 60s sitcom.
02:03It really says something about classic TV, doesn't it?
02:05That a role from, wow, over 60 years ago is still so recognizable.
02:09Definitely. And rounding out this sort of classic screen talent group, there's Graham Greene.
02:15He passed on September 1st, age 73, after a long illness.
02:19Ah, yes. His cultural impact is significant, especially around representation.
02:23The key thing here really is that Greene was a First Nations Oneida actor.
02:27He broke major ground in Hollywood, got that Oscar nomination for Dances with Wolves in 1990.
02:33His visibility, his success.
02:34It really helped open doors for more authentic Indigenous stories in mainstream film.
02:39That nomination wasn't just for him. It felt like a, well, a cultural turning point.
02:43Right. Okay, let's shift gears a bit to the music world, because September was rough there, too,
02:48particularly for, like, foundational rock and roll figures.
02:51Yeah, what's fascinating here is how influential these musicians were,
02:55even if they weren't always the household name frontman.
02:57Sometimes they were working more, you know, behind the scenes or just alongside maybe slightly more famous bandmates.
03:03Sonny Curtis is a perfect example, right?
03:06Died at 88. Complications from pneumonia. An influential guy.
03:09Oh, absolutely. Curtis was, like, one of the architects of that classic rock and roll sound.
03:15Fantastic singer, songwriter, guitarist.
03:17And crucially, he was in Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets, after Buddy died.
03:22He wrote so many classic songs, rock, country, pop.
03:26We tend to forget that these guys often cross genres, you know.
03:29They weren't just rock guys or country guys. They were the backbone of that whole era's sound.
03:33Then there's Mark Vollman, another key founder of a major band.
03:36He passed on September 5th, age 78, from complications related to a blood disease.
03:41Vollman's legacy is really multifaceted.
03:43Co-founded the Turtles, obviously, you know, massive hits like Happy Together, singer, guitarist, songwriter there.
03:49Oh, yeah. Huge band.
03:50Huge. But what's interesting, the sources noted he later completely shifted gears and became a professor.
03:55Talked music business. That's pretty unique, isn't it?
03:59Being a genuine rock legend and teaching the next generation about the industry.
04:03That really is amazing. I didn't know he was a professor.
04:06Balancing, like, Turtles fame with lectures.
04:09Yeah.
04:09It highlights a legacy that's performance, creation, and education. That's quite something.
04:14It really shows a commitment to passing on knowledge.
04:17A different kind of institution building than Redford, maybe, but still lasting.
04:21We also lost Rick Davis, English musician, co-founded Supertramp.
04:24Another giant band.
04:26Right. He passed from cancer, September 6th, age 81. He was their key vocalist and keyboardist.
04:32So, another foundational piece of a major sound gone.
04:35And while those feel like, you know, the end of an era for classic rock, the shift to modern country feels quite abrupt with the next loss, Brett James.
04:44Yeah, that sudden change in the cause of death, you know, from natural causes or long illness to a sudden accident, it always hits differently.
04:51Wait, that plane crash. That was Brett James. I knew the songs, of course, but maybe not the name behind them. This was shocking, yeah.
04:58Age 57. Plane crash in North Carolina. And here's where it gets, well, really interesting, I think.
05:04James' legacy is tied up in this sort of hidden structure of 21st century country.
05:09Exactly right. He was incredibly prolific. A Grammy-winning country songwriter and producer.
05:15His defining moment, the one that got him that Best Country Song Grammy, was co-writing Jesus Take the Wheel for Carrie Underwood back in 2005. Huge hit.
05:24Massive. Yeah. So, he represents that kind of behind-the-scenes celebrity. The songwriter whose work everyone knows, even if they don't recognize his face, his impact is felt every time that song plays.
05:35It's interesting comparing his loss to, say, the Super Tramp or Cricket's founders. James' work might be less varied, maybe, but just incredibly powerful commercially in the modern music scene.
05:45It says a lot about how music works now, definitely. Okay, so, shifting back to TV and film for a moment, let's talk about some small screen icons.
05:52Like Polly Holiday. Died at 88 from pneumonia.
05:55And she's instantly recognizable for that one role, right? Flo Castleberry, the waitress on Alice in the 70s.
06:02Kiss my grits.
06:03Exactly. That character became, like, cultural shorthand for a certain kind of sassy Southern personality.
06:10Flo was so iconic, it almost defines her whole career, which happens a lot with great character actors, doesn't it?
06:14They find immortality through that one perfect part.
06:17True. And then Paula Shaw passed at 84 after a long illness.
06:21Her career really showed incredible versatility across decades.
06:25The sources highlighted how she moved between, like, darker stuff she was in, Freddy vs. Jason.
06:30Oh, wow.
06:31Yeah. And then also being this reliable presence in tons of, you know, much softer Hallmark Channel movies.
06:37That kind of range, from horror slashers to feel-good Christmas romance, it really speaks to a character actor's adaptability.
06:44Definitely.
06:44Okay, now we get to some of the younger losses, the more tragic and unexpected ones.
06:50And these really underscore that whole evolving idea of celebrity we mentioned earlier.
06:54Brad Everett Young died at just 46 in a car accident September 14th.
06:58He seems like a very modern kind of multi-talented person.
07:02Absolutely. Young had this really busy, varied career you couldn't just pin down to one thing.
07:07He was an actor, yes, but also a celebrity photographer, quite sought after, apparently.
07:11And he founded this arts education initiative, Dream Loud Official.
07:16So his legacy is about using talent across different creative fields and trying to drive social change through art.
07:22Sort of fits that modern entrepreneurial celebrity mold.
07:25And then the really tragic story of Joshua Allen, only 36.
07:29Struck by a train in Fort Worth, Texas on September 30th, his fame came specifically through, like, competitive TV, right?
07:37That's right. Widely known as the season four winner of So You Think You Can Dance.
07:41That win really defined his public persona.
07:44It's another example of how modern fame can be almost instantaneous achieved through reality TV or a competition, rather than, say, decades of touring or acting training.
07:53And finally, representing maybe the newest form of celebrity, the viral star we have, Rolling Ray, the youngest person on this list passed away September 3rd at just 28.
08:00Rolling Ray really embodies a completely different kind of fame.
08:03Social media influencer, reality TV personality, known mainly from the Zeus Network.
08:09His whole career basically existed online, digitally, impacting a generation who, you know, might genuinely not know who Robert Redford was.
08:17His death, which was confirmed by his mother and the network, it rippled instantly across social media.
08:22Very modern phenomenon.
08:23So what does this all mean?
08:25When you step back and look at just one month, September 2025, the sheer breadth of talent lost is kind of staggering.
08:32From people who built institutions and died naturally in their 90s, to people who found fame through a viral moment and died suddenly in their 20s or 30s from accidents or illness.
08:40It really does raise an important question, I think, about how we perceive fame and legacy now.
08:45You have these foundational figures, the Walk Band co-founders, the songwriters like Brett James, whose work is everywhere but whose name might not be.
08:53The institution builders like Redford, their influence stretched over 50, 60 years.
08:59And then you have figures like Rolling Ray, their entire career, their community, their impact.
09:04It's all within the digital sphere and they pass away decades younger.
09:08It just clearly shows this rapid ongoing shift in media, in consumption and, well, what even counts as a celebrity loss today.
09:17Yeah, it's like looking at a cross-section of entertainment history through the lens of who we lost in just 30 days.
09:22It proves celebrity means something totally different now compared to when, say, Pat Crowley or Robert Redford were starting out.
09:28Exactly. And when you think about the legacy, someone like Redford, who literally built Sundance, this whole ecosystem, versus a viral star whose impact might be incredibly intense and immediate within their specific online community, but perhaps more fleeting.
09:44How will future generations weigh that?
09:47You know, what defines a meaningful celebrity loss?
09:50Will the size of the online audience eventually matter more than traditional cultural impact?
09:54That's definitely something for you to chew on.
09:57Absolutely. Well, if you want more deep dives like this into celebrity news, pop culture, all that stuff, make sure you subscribe to Stateside Gossip.
10:04We'll catch you on the next one.
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