Stacy Keach, the acclaimed stage actor and television star best known for his portrayal of private investigator Mike Hammer, died Tuesday at his home in Magdalenka, Poland. He was 85.
She described the loss as a moment of profound sadness, stating, Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family.
Stacy Keach, a versatile performer whose career spanned Shakespearean classics and gritty television crime dramas, has died at 85 following a battle with heart failure.
Born in Savannah, Georgia, Keach was the son of actors who met at Northwestern University. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned degrees in English and dramatic art, before obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Yale School of Drama. His extensive stage career included a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of Buffalo Bill in the Broadway production Indians.
He also appeared on Broadway in King Lear and Other Desert Cities, and took on roles in The Kentucky Cycle and The Country Wife. Additionally, he headed the national touring company cast of Frost/Nixon as the former president and toured with Sleuth alongside co-star Maxwell Caulfield.
Keach’s filmography included work with director John Huston in Fat City and The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, as well as roles in American History X and The Bourne Legacy. He gained significant acclaim for his portrayal of Ernest Hemingway in a six-hour miniseries, a role for which he gained 35 pounds (16 kilograms) and ultimately won a Golden Globe.
Other notable television credits included Mistral’s Daughter, Princess Daisy, Jesus of Nazareth, and The Blue and the Gray. Reflecting on his diverse career choices in a 2012 interview with New York magazine, Keach stated, My choices have had a cost attached to it. But I’ve gotten to play Hamlet, and Richard III and King Lear, and I would not give that up for anything.
While his stage work earned him critical respect, he became a household name in the 1980s for his role as the hard-boiled detective Mike Hammer. During this period, he met his wife, Malgosia Tomassi, when she appeared in the Hammer series.
Stacy Keach, the veteran actor best known for portraying detective Mike Hammer and his roles in FAT CITY, AMERICAN HISTORY X, and PRISON BREAK, has passed away at 85. Horror fans will also remember his performances in ROADGAMES (1981), John Carpenter’s BODY BAGS (1993), CHILDREN… pic.twitter.com/qXyL5yAvFA
He served six months of a nine-month prison sentence at Reading Prison, a medium-security facility chosen by authorities to limit press access.
He later described the period in his 2013 memoir, All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage, writing, As my sentence was read — nine months in prison — I felt like someone had kicked me in the groin with lead cleats.
He recalled the experience as very lonely, very depressing, very sad.
Later, while starring in the series Prison Break, he modeled his character after the warden he encountered in England, whom he credited with showing compassion and a desire to help prisoners rehabilitate.
Keach’s health struggles were a documented part of his later life. In 2017, he appeared in Pamplona, a one-man show about Hemingway, but collapsed onstage in Chicago, leading to the cancellation of the production.
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Stacy Keach, Star of 'Mike Hammer,' 'Fat City,' Dies at 85 https://t.co/9VCXdwgSrP pic.twitter.com/sg3QTrXBh1
