Actor Stacy Keach (Fat City, The New Mike Hmmer) has died in Poland at age 85. According to Variety, his wife, Małgosia Tomassi (Mike Hammer, Private Eye, The New Mike Hammer) confirmed his death this Tuesday from heart failure and died at their family’s home in Magdalenka, Poland.
In her statement she said: “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. His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives. But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever.”
Keach was part of an acting family with his mother, Mary Cain, an actress and his younger brother, James Keach (The Long Riders, Walk the Line), now a director and producer. His full name was Walter Stacy Keach Jr., and was born in Savannah, Georgia. He was an actor, drama teacher, and theater director, graduating as class president from Van Nuys High School and, in 1963, graduating from UC Berkley. He went on to earn a graduate degree from Yale School of Drama and was also a Fulbright Scholar at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He was also a founding member of the L.A. Theatre Works.
Keach debuted on TV in a college drama Channing (1964). His big screen debut was in movie versions of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (1967) and Macbeth (1968). He also debuted in the adaptation of Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968).
Keach played in Robert Altman’s (A Prairie Home Companion, Tanner on Tanner) Brewster McCloud (1970), Joseph Wambaugh’s (The Choirboys, Police Story) The New Centurions (1972), John Huston’s (Chinatown, The Misfts) The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), comedy classic Up in Smoke (1978), William Peter Blatty’s (The Exorcist, The Exorcist III) The Ninth Configuration (1980), The Long Riders (1980), and That Championship Season (1982). His most famous film was Huston’s boxing drama Fat City (1972), playing the over-the-hill boxer and performing with Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water, The Big Lebowski) onscreen.
Keach’s additional film credits included Oliver Stone’s (JFK, Platoon) biopic W (2008), John Sayles’ (Lone Star, City of Hope) Honeydripper (2007), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). He also had recurring roles on ER (1994-2009) and Titus (2000-2003).
Keach was known for his other roles in Blue Bloods (2010-2024) as Cardinal Kevin Kearns. Keach had also appeared on stage, film, and TV up to his eighties as pop-up character, including The Bourne Legacy (2012), Nebraska (2013), Two and a Half Men (2003-2015), Man with a Plan (2016-2020), The Blacklist (2013-2023), Ray Donovan (2013-2020), and The Simpsons (1989- ). His final role was in Jay Kelly (2025) as the father of Jay Kelly, who was played by George Clooney (Ocean’s Eleven, ER) in the film.
He found most of his fame from the CBS series Mike Hammer (1984-1987) and reprised the role in the TV movie Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All (1989) and the syndicated series Mike Hammer, Private Eye (1997-1998). His run on the shows was a rocky start offscreen as Keach was arrested in 1984 at London’s Heathrow Airport for possession of cocaine, serving six months at Reading Prison. In a TV interview back in 2014, Keach said his time in prison was his lowest point.
Keach’s Emmy nomination in 1988 was recognized for his outstanding lead actor role in the miniseries Ernest Hemingway (1988).
He had numerous guest appearance on shows, including Touched by an Angel (1994-2003), Will & Grace (1998-2020), George Lopez (2002-2007), 30 Rock (2006-2013), Anger Management (2012-2014), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999- ), NCIS: New Orleans (2014-2021), and Hot in Cleveland (2010-2015).
In his performance on stage, he received a Helen Hayes award in 2010 for his performance of “King Lear” at the Shakespeare Theater Company in 1968, and a Tony nomination for the Broadway production of “Indians” in 1969 as Buffalo Bill. He would later come back a few times in his role in “King Lear.” For Off-Broadway in 1966, he played Barbara Garson’s “MacBird!” title role, winning his first Obie Award, and he performed with Morgan Freeman (Seven, The Shawshank Redemption) in George Tabori’s “The Niggerlovers.” He performed also in plays like “Danton’s Death,” “The Country Wife,” “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” “Deathtrap,” “Solitary Confinement,” “The Kentucky Cycle,” “Hamlet,” “Henry IV,” “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
Keach was married to Kathryn Baker in 1964, Marilyn Aiken from 1975 to 1979, and Jill Donahue (13 Demon Street, I Spy) from 1981 to 1986. His fourth wife is Malgosia, whom he married in 1986 and had his children, Shannon (Mike Hammer, Private Eye) and Karolina Keach, with.