Stacy Keach Dies at 85 After Decades on Stage and Screen
The actor, known for playing Mike Hammer and starring in Shakespearean roles, passed away in Poland after a battle with heart failure.
By Adriana Abebe ·
Stacy Keach, the actor who brought the gritty private investigator Mike Hammer to television and commanded Broadway stages in Shakespearean roles, died Tuesday. He was 85 years old.
His wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, said he died at his home in Magdalenka, Poland. She noted that he had been fighting a serious heart condition and heart failure for a long time. Keach had suffered a heart attack while performing in Chicago in June 2017.
Keach built his reputation as a serious stage actor before television made him a household name. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, the Yale School of Drama, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He played roles such as Hamlet, King Lear, and Richard III. He also headed the national touring company for Frost/Nixon.
His career took an unexpected turn in 1984 when he was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport. He was trying to smuggle 1.3 ounces of cocaine hidden in an aerosol shaving cream can. His secretary was arrested with him. Authorities sent him to Reading Prison, a medium-security facility, because they believed a minimum-security jail would be too easy for reporters to access.
Keach served six months of a nine-month sentence. In his 2013 memoir, he described the cell as the size of a closet with an orange plastic bucket for a toilet. He said the experience was lonely and depressing. He received letters from actors including Gregory Peck, Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, and Al Pacino while inside.
After his release, Keach testified before a House panel about his addiction. He told lawmakers that chemical dependence was a form of imprisonment. He narrated the documentary High on the Job and took his warnings to college campuses and rehab centers. He returned to television, resuming his role as Mike Hammer in the 1986-87 season on CBS.
He continued to act in films and television until recently. He appeared in Nebraska, The Bourne Legacy, and Jay Kelly. Lou Diamond Phillips, who played his son in the 2008 TV movie Lone Rider, called him a consummate actor and a gracious person. Keach is survived by his wife and his two children, Shannon and Karolina.
