Stacy Keach, Iconic 'Mike Hammer' & 'Prison Break' Star, Dies at 85

Veteran American actor Stacy Keach—best known to television audiences as hard-boiled private eye Mike Hammer—has died at the age of 85 at his home in Magdalenka, Poland, following a prolonged battle with heart failure and a serious heart condition. Keach’s six-decade career bridged stage, film and TV. After a Shakespeare-packed start that saw him hailed as one of the finest Hamlets of his generation, he broke through onscreen with John Huston’s boxing drama “Fat City” (1972) and cult favorite “The Ninth Configuration” (1980). Yet it was CBS’s “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” that cemented his pop-culture status, drawing millions of viewers in the 1980s and spawning multiple TV movies. Born Walter Stacy Keach Jr. in Savannah, Georgia, on June 2, 1941, the actor collected nearly every major acting honor short of an Oscar: a Golden Globe for portraying Ernest Hemingway, an Obie, an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He earned a Tony nomination for playing Buffalo Bill in “Indians,” toured nationally as Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon,” and continued working well into his 80s, including memorable turns in “Nebraska,” “Prison Break” and “The Blacklist.” Offscreen, Keach’s life took a dramatic turn when a 1984 cocaine-smuggling arrest in London led to six months in Britain’s Reading Prison. The experience reshaped his career and inspired years of anti-drug advocacy, detailed in his memoir “All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage.” Keach is survived by his wife, Polish actress Malgosia Tomassi, and their children Shannon and Karolina. According to the family, private funeral services will be held in Warsaw, with a Los Angeles celebration of life to be announced. How to stream Stacy Keach classics now: • “Mike Hammer” (Freevee, Pluto TV) • “Fat City” (Prime Video rental) • “Nebraska” (Max) • “The Ninth Configuration” (Shudder) Fans and industry giants alike have begun paying tribute online, praising Keach’s “stentorian voice,” “fearless range” and “Shakespearean gravitas.” With his passing, Hollywood loses a performer who could convincingly portray both King Lear and a Cheech-and-Chong stoner cop—often in the same year. Search interest in Keach’s body of work is soaring as new audiences discover his eclectic résumé; expect streaming numbers to spike this week as viewers revisit—or discover for the first time—the indelible characters that made Stacy Keach an icon of American acting.