Stacy Keach, a distinguished American stage actor renowned for his portrayal of the rough-edged private investigator Mike Hammer on television, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 85. His career faced a significant setback in 1984 when he was incarcerated for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK.
Keach’s death occurred at his residence in Magdalenka, Poland, following a prolonged and challenging fight against severe heart issues and heart failure, as stated by his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach. He had previously experienced a heart attack while performing on stage in Chicago in June 2017.
Despite being celebrated as a leading interpreter of Shakespeare and a favorite of esteemed directors like John Huston, Keach will forever be associated with his iconic role as the gritty Hammer, a fictional private investigator created by author Mickey Spillane.
Refusing to be typecast, Keach’s career is marked by a diverse array of characters, ranging from a laid-back cop in films to King Lear on stage, and even as a narrator for World’s Most Amazing Videos. He portrayed a disturbed colonel in The Ninth Configuration (also referred to as Twinkle, Twinkle Killer Kane), starred in the TV series Titus, appeared in Alexander Payne’s Oscar-nominated film Nebraska, and had a recurring role as a New York archbishop in CBS’s police drama Blue Bloods. In the previous year, he delivered a remarkable performance as George Clooney’s resentful father in Jay Kelly.
In a 2012 interview with New York magazine, he remarked, “My goal was to have the most varied collection of roles possible. It might have negatively impacted my career. My decisions have come with a price. However, I’ve had the opportunity to play Hamlet, Richard III, and King Lear, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
‘One of the greats’
Lou Diamond Phillips, who portrayed Keach’s son in the 2008 television film Lone Rider, expressed his admiration in a post on X, describing Keach as a “masterful actor, gracious, generous, and extraordinarily kind, even with the aura of a simmering volcano. One of the greats. Proud to have shared moments with him.”
In the CBS miniseries Mistral’s Daughter, Keach took on the role of French artist Julien Mistral, played a Russian prince in the miniseries adaptation of Judith Krantz’s Princess Daisy, portrayed Barabbas in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, and depicted Maj. Jonas Steele in The Blue and the Gray. He received a Golden Globe for his performance as Ernest Hemingway in a six-hour miniseries, for which he gained 35 pounds.
Keach, seen in April 1984, was one of America’s finest stage actors. (Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Keach received a Tony Award nomination for his role as Buffalo Bill in the Broadway production Indians, acted as Edmund opposite Lee J. Cobb in King Lear on Broadway, and participated in various other stage productions, including The Kentucky Cycle in 1993, The Country Wife in 1965, and Other Desert Cities in 2011.
He also led the national touring company of Frost/Nixon, where he portrayed the disgraced president, and toured with Sleuth alongside Maxwell Caulfield. In 2006, he starred in a production of King Lear at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and returned in 2017 for Pamplona, a one-man show about Hemingway, during which he collapsed on stage, resulting in the cancellation of the run.
‘Lowest moment’ was prison
While still involved in Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer (later renamed The New Mike Hammer), Keach was apprehended in 1984 at London’s Heathrow Airport for attempting to smuggle 1.3 ounces of cocaine hidden in an aerosol shaving cream can and other locations in his suitcase. His secretary was also arrested.
Keach and his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, pose for a photo at a premiere in 2006. (Lucas Jackson/The Associated Press)
Reflecting on his sentence of nine months in prison, he wrote in his 2013 memoir, All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage, “It felt like someone had kicked me in the groin with lead cleats.” He described that moment as “the lowest point of my life.”
He was handcuffed and taken to a prison cell roughly the size of a closet, where an orange plastic bucket served as his toilet. Before entering, an officer requested his autograph on a copy of The Blue and the Gray.
At the age of 44, Keach was sent to Reading Prison, a medium-security facility, as officials believed a minimum-security prison would be too accessible to the press. He was released after serving six months.
In his memoir, Keach noted that he received supportive letters from Gregory Peck, Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, and Al Pacino while incarcerated. He was assigned the task of presenting a film once a month and recalled selecting The Long Riders during one of those occasions. He described his time in prison as “very lonely, very depressing, very sad,” and he spent much of it contemplating his own foolishness.
Following his release, he narrated the documentary High on the Job and testified before Congress, sharing his experiences with cocaine addiction since the mid-1970s. He stated, “There is no greater imprisonment than that of being dependent on a chemical substance for one’s existence.”
Keach shared his warnings on college campuses and at rehabilitation centers. He later married Polish actress Malgosia Tomassi, whom he met during the filming of the Hammer series. He cherished the letters and photographs she sent him while he was in prison.
Married 4 times
Having been married four times, Keach is survived by Malgosia and his daughters, Shannon and Karolina.
His first role after his release was in the CBS film Intimate Strangers alongside Teri Garr, which became the third-highest rated TV movie during the 1985-86 season. Following that, his film The Return of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer also performed well, and the Mike Hammer series, which had been shelved due to his arrest, was subsequently scheduled for CBS’s 1986-87 lineup.
Years later, in the TV series Prison Break that aired from 2005-2007, Keach portrayed a prison warden, drawing inspiration for his character from his own experiences with a compassionate warden in England who aimed to assist inmates in their rehabilitation.
Born in Savannah, Georgia, Keach was the offspring of actors who met at Northwestern University. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned degrees in English and dramatic arts.
Tributes to Keach have poured in online from fellow actors such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael McKean, as well as director John Carpenter.