diff --git a/python/ray/data/_internal/execution/operators/actor_pool_map_operator.py b/python/ray/data/_internal/execution/operators/actor_pool_map_operator.py
index 72dbeff66a1c..7a34b175cf9a 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/_internal/execution/operators/actor_pool_map_operator.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/_internal/execution/operators/actor_pool_map_operator.py
@@ -933,8 +933,20 @@ def scale(self, req: ActorPoolScalingRequest) -> Optional[int]:
     @override
     def refresh_actor_state(self):
         self._alive_node_to_actor_heap.clear()
+        dead_actors = []
         for actor in self._running_actors:
-            self._update_running_actor_state(actor)
+            if self._update_running_actor_state(actor):
+                dead_actors.append(actor)
+        for actor in dead_actors:
+            # Release dead actors so they stop counting towards the pool's
+            # current size; otherwise a fixed-size pool would never replace
+            # them and the pipeline could silently stall (see #62746). The
+            # autoscaler will scale the pool back up to its min size.
+            logger.warning(
+                f"{self.map_worker_cls_name} actor {actor} is dead; releasing "
+                "it from the actor pool so it can be replaced."
+            )
+            self._release_running_actor(actor)
 
     @override
     def on_task_submitted(self, actor: ActorHandle):
@@ -1068,7 +1080,12 @@ def select_actors(
     @override
     def on_task_completed(self, actor: ActorHandle):
         """Called when a task completes. Returns the provided actor to the pool."""
-        state = self._running_actors[actor]
+        state = self._running_actors.get(actor)
+        if state is None:
+            # The actor was already released from the pool (e.g. it died with
+            # tasks in flight and was removed by `refresh_actor_state`);
+            # `_release_running_actor` already reconciled the pool's counters.
+            return
         assert state.num_tasks_in_flight > 0
         state.num_tasks_in_flight -= 1
         self._total_num_tasks_in_flight -= 1
@@ -1127,12 +1144,15 @@ def _create_actor(
         self._actor_to_logical_id[actor] = logical_actor_id
         return actor, ready_ref, resource_usage
 
-    def _update_running_actor_state(self, actor: ActorHandle):
+    def _update_running_actor_state(self, actor: ActorHandle) -> bool:
         """Update running actor state. This is called for every actor
         in `refresh_actor_state`.
 
         Args:
             actor: The running actor that needs state update.
+
+        Returns:
+            True if the actor is dead (and should be released from the pool).
         """
         actor_state = actor._get_local_state()
 
@@ -1167,6 +1187,10 @@ def _update_running_actor_state(self, actor: ActorHandle):
 
         self._update_rank(actor=actor, state=running_actor_state, died=died)
 
+        # Only report definitively dead actors for release; a `None` state means
+        # the state is unknown (possibly transiently), so keep those in the pool.
+        return actor_state == _ACTOR_STATE_DEAD
+
     def _update_rank(self, actor: ActorHandle, state: _ActorState, died: bool):
         """Update the scheduling rank for an actor after a state refresh.
 
diff --git a/python/ray/data/tests/test_actor_pool_map_operator.py b/python/ray/data/tests/test_actor_pool_map_operator.py
index 688c018c60f2..3af6671e0d8b 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/tests/test_actor_pool_map_operator.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/tests/test_actor_pool_map_operator.py
@@ -1357,6 +1357,58 @@ def test_completed_when_downstream_op_has_finished_execution(ray_start_regular_s
     assert actor_pool_map_op.has_completed()
 
 
+def test_dead_actor_released_and_replaced_e2e(shutdown_only, restore_data_context):
+    """A dead actor must be released from the pool and replaced (#62746).
+
+    With a fixed-size pool and `max_errored_blocks = -1`, an actor that dies
+    mid-pipeline (e.g. `sys.exit(0)` inside the UDF) used to stay in
+    `_running_actors` forever: the pool's size never dropped, the autoscaler
+    never created a replacement, and the pipeline silently hung.
+    """
+    import sys as _sys
+
+    ray.shutdown()
+    ray.init(num_cpus=2)
+
+    ctx = ray.data.DataContext.get_current()
+    ctx.max_errored_blocks = -1
+
+    @ray.remote(num_cpus=0)
+    class DeathFlag:
+        def __init__(self):
+            self._died = False
+
+        def should_die(self) -> bool:
+            died, self._died = self._died, True
+            return not died
+
+    flag = DeathFlag.remote()
+
+    class DiesOnce:
+        def __init__(self):
+            self._counter = 0
+
+        def __call__(self, batch):
+            self._counter += 1
+            if self._counter == 3 and ray.get(flag.should_die.remote()):
+                _sys.exit(0)
+            return batch
+
+    ds = (
+        ray.data.range(20, override_num_blocks=20)
+        .map_batches(
+            DiesOnce,
+            batch_size=1,
+            compute=ray.data.ActorPoolStrategy(size=1),
+        )
+        .materialize()
+    )
+
+    # The pipeline completes (instead of hanging), with only the blocks that
+    # were in flight on the dead actor dropped.
+    assert ds.count() > 0
+
+
 def test_actor_pool_fault_tolerance_e2e(ray_start_cluster, restore_data_context):
     """Test that a dataset with actor pools can finish, when
     all nodes in the cluster are removed and added back."""