In memoriam: 13 influential musicians, actors, filmmakers and authors we lost in 2024

As we bid adieu to 2024, we pay tribute to some of the major cultural figures who passed away.

Steve Albini

Steve Albini, the prolific recording engineer (don’t call him a “producer”) who also played guitar in the uncompromising bands Big Black and Shellac, helped shape the alternative rock sound of ‘80s and ‘90s from his work with the likes of the Pixies, Nirvana and PJ Harvey.

Albini was also known for his brash, often offensive cultural criticism, and “edgelord” tendencies — behaviour for which he expressed regret in recent years. Writing in the Ringer shortly after Albini died of a heart attack on May 7 at 61, Nate Rogers reflected on this unexpected development: “In some sense, Albini’s contrition was the act of a premier hater realizing that the final frontier of hating is one’s own past. But it was also a welcome way for Albini to show that people can continue to grow at any age — and it set the stage for him to continue to grow as a producer as well. For that next chapter to be cut so drastically short — for him to die so suddenly, just a week before a new Shellac record is to be released — is difficult to accept.”

Shelley Duvall

As a young actor in the 1970s, Shelley Duvall seemed drawn to eccentric roles, which she imbued with a riveting intensity. Known for work with filmmaker Robert Altman, she achieved her biggest success in 1980, when she starred as Wendy Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”

“If the New Hollywood of the 1970s is often romanticized as an era of unlikely matinee idols and unconventional sex symbols, Duvall was the most exciting outlier of all,” wrote Adam Nayman in the Star following Duvall’s death on July 11 at 75, “a lanky space cadet who somehow seemed exotic, erotic and neurotic all at the same time.”

Norman Jewison

Born in Toronto in 1926, Norman Jewison started his career at CBC Television before moving to Hollywood, where he would become one of the most successful Canadian film directors of all time. Among his most beloved films are “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck,” each of which earned him an Oscar nomination for best director.

“Actors and crews loved Jewison because he was such an exuberant, appreciative collaborator,” critic Matt Zoller Seitz wrote in Vulture following the director’s death at 97 on Jan. 20. “He was as legendary for his skill at corporate politics and ego management as for his achievements as a director and producer.”

James Earl Jones

An EGOT winner. A Broadway legend. A pioneer among Black American actors. The voice of Darth Vader and the original Mufasa.

James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter on his journey to becoming one of the most commanding voices in the world of entertainment, was a force of nature.

“He meant everything to me,” Denzel Washington said following Jones’s death at 93 on Sept. 9. “I wanted to be James Earl Jones.”

Quincy Jones

Over the course of seven decades, composer, musician, record producer and activist Quincy Jones played a fundamental role in shaping the sound of American music, working with such artists as Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, and scoring several major films.

Jones was also larger-than-life personality, whose charisma and work ethic was brilliantly captured in the recent documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop,” in which he shepherds an unruly flock of rock and pop stars during the recording of “We Are the World.”

“He’s touched every single genre,” Stevie Wonder reflected following Jones’s death on Nov. 3 at 91. “He connected with people who had those great talents, and he was able to bring out of them the best. … Quincy should be remembered as one of God’s greatest gifts to the world.”

Ka

Kaseem Ryan, better known as Ka, was a beloved underground rapper from Brownsville, Brooklyn, recognized for his sparse beats and proudly uncommercial approach. Ka, who also had a long career as a firefighter, was a rare example of a rapper who found success in his middle age; it was his output in the 2020s that finally earned him a degree of commercial fame and critical acclaim.

“Ka’s death is both numbing and tremendous,” Vulture music critic Craig Jenkins wrote. “He filled the crevices of a seemingly already-full life with creative pursuits. A stream of never-less-than-compelling studio albums gave proof of the benefits of his patient and uncompromising vision while peering into the nature of humanity.”

Kris Kristofferson

By the 1970s Kris Kristofferson was the ultimate archetype of the country outlaw, penning raw and introspective songs of loneliness and romance — including the classics like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” — while lending his rugged good looks to the movies, starring in such films as “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” and “A Star Is Born.”

“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Willie Nelson once said. “Everything he writes is a standard and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”

Digging into Kristofferson’s biography reveals an even more fascinating individual: Golden Gloves boxer, rugby and football player, Rhodes Scholar and helicopter pilot.

Kristofferson died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Sept. 28 at the age of 88.

Phil Lesh

A founding member the Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh was widely credited as reinventing and revitalizing the role of the rock bass guitar during his decades-long tenure with the band and its offshoots.

“Phil Lesh was irreplaceable,” the Grateful Dead wrote in a tribute following his death on Oct. 25 at 84. “In one note from the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born. His bass flowed like a river would flow. It went where the muse took it. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who just happened to play bass. He was a circumnavigator of formerly unknown musical worlds. And more.”

Alice Munro

A winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Man Booker Prize, Canadian author Alice Munro is widely considered among the greatest fiction writers in the English language. She wrote 13 books of dense, masterful short stories, many of which focused on the complex inner lives of women and girls living in small-town Ontario — stories that inspired generations of readers and writers, who shared adoringtributes after receiving news of her death at 92 on May 13.

Two months later, Munro’s daughter Andrea Robin Skinner revealed in the Toronto Star that she had been sexually abused as a child by her mother’s husband, Gerald Fremlin. Aware of the abuse, Munro remained with Fremlin.

Though Munro’s books remain canonical, these devastating revelations have altered the way readers understand her work.

Liam Payne

Liam Payne’s unexpected death sent shock waves through the music world, particularly among fans of the English singer when he was part of the chart-topping boy band One Direction.

The group — which also featured Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik — formed in 2010, after the teens auditioned independently for the reality TV series “The X Factor.” In an unprecedented move, the show’s judges decided to combine the singers into a single group, which disbanded in 2016.

Payne, 31, died on Oct. 16 after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

“Liam lived wide open, with his heart on his sleeve, he had an energy for life that was infectious,” Styles wrote on Instagram. “He was warm, supportive, and incredibly loving. The years we spent together will forever remain among the most cherished years of my life. I will miss him always, my lovely friend.”

Rich Homie Quan

A charismatic rapper from Atlanta, Dequantes Devontay Lamar, aka Rich Homie Quan, made a splash in the early 2010s with a string of hits, including “Type of Way” and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh).” But he might be best remembered as part of the hip-hop collective Rich Gang, alongside Young Thug.

“RIP Rich Homie Quan,” music writer Jeff Weiss posted on X following Quan’s death. “(T)he melodic genius who never stopped going in, who sang & wrote hooks as memorable as anything to ever chart, pop masterpieces straight out the mud. An era-defining ATL all-timer.”

Lamar died of an accidental overdose on Sept. 5. He was 33.

Maggie Smith

For younger audiences, Maggie Smith may be best known for playing Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” films and Violet Crawley on “Downton Abbey.”

But the star, whose celebrated career began in the early 1950s, was frequently considered among the preeminent British female performers of her generation (which also included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench), with two Oscar wins and a clutch of Academy Award nominations.

“She was one of the greatest actresses of the past century, without a doubt,” Helen Mirren said following Smith’s death on Sept. 27 at age 89.

Donald Sutherland

The pride of Saint John, N.B., Donald Sutherland commanded the screen since the early 1960s, taking memorable roles in films as varied as “M*A*S*H,” “Animal House” and the “Hunger Games” series.

“Donald Sutherland was an utterly unique actor and irreplaceable star,” wrote Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw after the actor died at 88 on June 20. “Possessed of a distinctive leonine handsomeness that the white beard of his latter years only made more majestic: watchful, cerebral, charismatic.”

With files from the Associated Press.