Stacy Keach, the commanding stage actor who became a household name as hard-boiled private eye Mike Hammer, died Tuesday at his home in Magdalenka, Poland. He was 85.
His wife, Malgosia Tomassi, told Variety he died after a long battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure. In her statement, she called him a legendary actor and "the heart of our family."
Forever Mike Hammer
Keach played Mickey Spillane's trench-coated detective in "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" and "The New Mike Hammer" on CBS in the 1980s, then brought him back in "Mike Hammer, Private Eye" from 1997 to 1998. In his 2013 memoir, "All in All: An Actor's Life on and off the Stage," he wrote that the role had stuck to him for good, and that he was happy it did.
Before television made him famous, Keach was one of the country's most respected classical stage actors, known for Shakespeare. He made his film debut in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" in 1968 and starred as a fading boxer in John Huston's "Fat City."
Later generations knew him as the hard-drinking dad on "Titus," as a recurring face on "Blue Bloods," as the voice of Duff Brewery president Howard K. Duff VIII on "The Simpsons" and as Skipper Riley in Disney's "Planes" films.
Keach became a Polish citizen in 2015. He is survived by Tomassi, his wife of 40 years, whom he met on "Mike Hammer"; his children, Shannon and Karolina; and his brother, James Keach.
