Stacy Keach, acclaimed stage and screen actor, dies at 85

Washington, DC

Keach died on Nov 10 of a serious heart condition and heart failure.

Stacy Keach, the prolific American actor known for his tough-guy roles in theater, film and television, and whose performances ranged from Hamlet to detective Mike Hammer, has died, his wife said on Nov. 11. He was 85.

Malgosia Tomassi confirmed the news in a statement to Hollywood trade publication Variety, saying her husband died on Nov. 10 “after a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure.”

Keach made a powerful Broadway debut in the mid-1960s, earning acclaim as one of America’s finest Shakespearean actors and a Tony Award nomination for his role in “Indians.”

His film debut in “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” launched a six-decade career spanning more than 100 movies.

Keach was widely celebrated for playing the seasoned private detective in the hit television series “The New Mike Hammer,” based on the hard-boiled fictional detective created by crime novelist Mickey Spillane, whom Keach admired and eventually befriended.

After a major setback in his career, Keach returned to the spotlight with his Golden Globe-winning portrayal of writer Ernest Hemingway in the 1988 television miniseries “Hemingway.” He introduced himself to a new generation of viewers in the 2010s as the archbishop of New York in the long-running CBS drama “Blue Bloods” and through a recurring voice role on “The Simpsons.”