Last Movies of Iconic Actors Before They Passed Away

Some careers end quietly while others leave final performances that audiences discover only after the headlines. This list gathers the last movies these iconic actors worked on before they died, noting the roles they played and when the films reached viewers. In several cases the releases were posthumous, and a few were completed with stand-ins or archival footage. Either way, these titles mark the final entries in remarkable filmographies.

James Dean

James Dean’s final movie released was ‘Giant’ in 1956. He completed filming the role of Jett Rink shortly before his death in September 1955. The film premiered the following year with Dean receiving a posthumous Best Actor nomination. His other two features were ‘East of Eden’ and ‘Rebel Without a Cause’, both from 1955.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe’s last completed feature was ‘The Misfits’ in 1961. She starred as Roslyn Taber opposite Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift. Monroe began work on ‘Something’s Got to Give’ in 1962 but it was never finished. She died in August 1962, leaving ‘The Misfits’ as her final completed film.

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee’s last completed film was ‘Enter the Dragon’ in 1973. He finished production before his death in July 1973, and the movie opened in August that year. ‘Game of Death’ was assembled and released in 1978 using stand-ins and previously shot footage. ‘Enter the Dragon’ therefore stands as his final fully completed performance.

Brandon Lee

Brandon Lee’s final film was ‘The Crow’ in 1994. He died in March 1993 due to an on-set accident during filming. The studio completed remaining scenes using visual effects and a stand-in. The movie was released in May 1994 with a dedication to him.

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger’s last film appearance was ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ in 2009. He died in January 2008 during production. The role was completed with performances by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to depict transformations of the same character. His final fully completed performance before his death was ‘The Dark Knight’ in 2008.

Paul Walker

Paul Walker’s final film released was ‘Furious 7’ in 2015. He died in November 2013 while the movie was still in production. Filmmakers finished his scenes with visual effects and performance capture from his brothers. The film includes an on-screen tribute to him.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last film credit was ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’ in 2015. He died in February 2014 after completing most of his work on both ‘Mockingjay’ installments. Some scenes were adjusted to account for material he could not finish. His final starring vehicle released in his lifetime was ‘A Most Wanted Man’ in 2014.

Robin Williams

Robin Williams’ final screen work included voice and live-action projects that appeared after his death in August 2014. His last live-action feature to premiere was ‘Boulevard’ in 2014. He also voiced Dennis the Dog in ‘Absolutely Anything’, which released in 2015. His final franchise appearance was ‘Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb’ in 2014.

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher’s final film appearance as Leia Organa was ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ in 2019. She died in December 2016. The production used previously unreleased footage from 2015 to integrate her into new scenes. She also appeared posthumously in the documentary ‘Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds’ in 2016.

Chadwick Boseman

Chadwick Boseman’s final film was ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ in 2020. He died in August 2020 after completing the role of Levee. The film was released on a streaming platform in December 2020. He received multiple posthumous awards and nominations for the performance.

River Phoenix

River Phoenix’s last movie completed and released during his lifetime was ‘The Thing Called Love’ in 1993. He died in October 1993 while filming ‘Dark Blood’. That project remained unfinished for years and eventually premiered in a reconstructed form in 2012. His final on-set work therefore belonged to ‘Dark Blood’, but ‘The Thing Called Love’ was his last lifetime release.

John Candy

John Candy’s final on-set project was ‘Wagons East’, which he was filming when he died in March 1994. The movie released later that year. ‘Canadian Bacon’, which he had shot earlier, was released posthumously in 1995. Both titles serve as his final film credits.

James Gandolfini

James Gandolfini’s final film released was ‘The Drop’ in 2014. He died in June 2013 after completing his role as bar owner Cousin Marv. The movie premiered at festivals in 2014 and received a wider release the same year. He had also appeared in ‘Enough Said’ in 2013.

Peter Sellers

Peter Sellers’ last film was ‘The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu’ in 1980. He died in July 1980 shortly after completing the production. The movie was released that year and featured Sellers in dual roles. It stands as his final screen performance.

John Belushi

John Belushi’s final film appearance was ‘Neighbors’ in 1981. He died in March 1982. The dark comedy paired him again with Dan Aykroyd, reversing their usual on-screen personas. No additional film work followed before his death.

Peter O’Toole

Peter O’Toole’s final feature credit was ‘Katherine of Alexandria’, also known as ‘Decline of an Empire’, which released in 2014. He died in December 2013. The production was completed before his death and reached audiences the following year. His late-career roles also included ‘For Greater Glory’ in 2012.

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman’s final on-screen role was ‘Eye in the Sky’, released in 2016. He died in January 2016. He also provided the voice of the Blue Caterpillar in ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’, which premiered later in 2016. Both titles were completed before his death.

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder’s last feature film appearance was ‘Another You’ in 1991. He died in 2016 after years away from movies. Following that film he focused on television projects and writing. He did not return to theatrical features after 1991.

Sean Connery

Sean Connery’s final feature film was ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ in 2003. He died in 2020. After this production he stepped away from on-camera roles. He later contributed voice work to a 2012 animated film short tied to a video game but did not act in further features.

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy’s last feature film role was ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ in 2013. He died in 2015. He portrayed Spock Prime in scenes set around the film’s central crisis. He also remained active with voice work in the years leading up to his death.

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze’s last film released during his lifetime was ‘Powder Blue’ in 2009. He died in September 2009. The ensemble drama featured him as a strip-club owner. His final television work was the series ‘The Beast’ in 2009.

Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy’s final films appeared around the time of her death in December 2009. ‘Abandoned’ released in 2010 after completion prior to her passing. She also had ‘Deadline’ in 2009 and voice work tied to other projects. ‘Abandoned’ is commonly cited as her last released feature.

Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer’s final live-action feature released during his lifetime was ‘The Last Full Measure’ in 2020. He died in 2021. He also recorded voice roles that reached audiences after his death. His prominent late-career work included ‘All the Money in the World’ in 2017.

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee’s last major theatrical release before his death in 2015 was ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ in 2014. He reprised the role of Saruman in that installment. He also recorded narration and voice work that surfaced after his passing. His screen career spanned from the late 1940s to the mid-2010s.

Anton Yelchin

Anton Yelchin’s final films were completed shortly before his death in June 2016. ‘Star Trek Beyond’ released in July 2016 with him as Pavel Chekov. The thriller ‘Thoroughbreds’ premiered in 2017 after being shot in 2015. Several documentaries and voice roles also reached audiences posthumously.

Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ final feature credit was the voice of Unicron in ‘Transformers: The Movie’. He completed the recording shortly before his death and the animated film premiered afterward. Welles had several unfinished projects in development that were later assembled in different forms. His work on this role is often cited as his last completed performance for a theatrical release.

Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi’s last on-screen material appears in ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’. Director Ed Wood used test footage Lugosi had shot earlier and combined it with stand-ins to complete the film. The release arrived after Lugosi had already passed away. The footage preserved his familiar Dracula-era image even though he did not film new scenes for the production.

Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds’ last completed feature performance was Vic Edwards in ‘The Last Movie Star’. He filmed a rehearsal for a later role in another project but did not complete that appearance. The finished film was released during his lifetime and later became a reference point in tributes. It also included archival elements that reflected on his earlier career.

Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton’s final feature to reach theaters was ‘The Circle’. He had already wrapped his part playing the protagonist’s father before his death. The film was released with his scenes intact and credited in memoriam. Around the same period he also appeared in ‘Mean Dreams’, which premiered earlier at festivals.

Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton’s last leading role was the desert drama ‘Lucky’. He completed the film and participated in early promotion before he died. The performance was widely noted as a summation of his late-career screen persona. He also appears posthumously in a small role in ‘The Old Man & the Gun’.

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper’s final credit released close to his passing was the voice of the villain in ‘Alpha and Omega’. He had also finished work on an independent comedy that did not come out until years later. The animated feature lists him among the principal cast in the end titles. His film and television appearances wrapped during the same period due to illness.

Burt Lancaster

Burt Lancaster’s last theatrical feature was ‘Field of Dreams’. He portrayed Archibald “Moonlight” Graham in a supporting role connected to the film’s central mystery. After this project he moved largely to television work and then retired from acting. The role became his final appearance on the big screen.

Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas’ last starring feature to be released was ‘Illusion’. It was produced independently and reached audiences after a limited run. Douglas had slowed his output significantly following health challenges. Later appearances were largely archival or honorary rather than new acting roles.

Sidney Poitier

Sidney Poitier’s final film role was in ‘The Jackal’. He returned from a long break to play a retired counterintelligence expert. After that project he stepped away from acting and focused on writing and diplomatic work. Television appearances and public honors followed, but no further film roles were added.

Betty White

Betty White’s last feature release was the voice of Grammy Norma in ‘The Lorax’. Her final live-action theatrical appearance came in ‘You Again’. She continued to work steadily on television and in specials after those films. Voice performances also kept her active with family audiences.

Albert Finney

Albert Finney’s final film role was the groundskeeper Kincade in ‘Skyfall’. He had largely retired from acting and made a brief return for this part. The production marked his last collaboration with a major franchise. Finney did not take on additional screen projects after it premiered.

Max von Sydow

Max von Sydow’s last feature to be released was ‘Echoes of the Past’, which arrived after his death. He had also filmed a role in ‘The Painted Bird’ that premiered earlier. These projects capped a career that moved between European art cinema and large-scale international productions. Festival screenings and staggered releases meant audiences saw his final work at different times.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor’s final theatrical feature appearance was as Pearl Slaghoople in ‘The Flintstones’. She shifted to television films and philanthropy afterward. Later screen credits included guest spots and specials rather than new features. Health issues contributed to her extended break from movies.

Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif’s last major feature role was the mentor figure in ‘The Physician’. He also appeared in a science education short released around the time of his death. In his final years he chose selective projects with limited shooting schedules. International co-productions remained a consistent part of his late career.

Peter Falk

Peter Falk’s final feature film credit was ‘Next’. He played the father of the protagonist in a supporting role. After that production he made few public appearances as his health declined. The film stands as his last entry in a long list of screen performances.

Share which final performances surprised you most in the comments.