Stacy Keach, Mike Hammer, Fat City Star, Dies At 85 After Heart Failure

Stacy Keach, the veteran American actor known for The New Mike Hammer and Fat City, has died at 85. He passed away on Tuesday (November 10) at his family home in Magdalenka, Poland, after a prolonged battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure. His wife, Malgosia Keach, announced the news in a statement obtained by People.

Stacy Keach death

Malgosia Keach said her husband "peacefully departed this world". She added, "Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family." She also said Stacy Keach's death came after "a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure".

Stacy Keach career and legacy

Keach worked for six decades in film, television and theatre. He earned a place among Hollywood’s most respected character actors, and while he never became a box-office draw, critics ranked him among America’s best classical performers.

Mike Hammer made him a television icon. Keach played the detective in The New Mike Hammer, which debuted in 1984 after the CBS television film Murder Me, Murder You. He later returned to the role in television films and in the 1997 series Mike Hammer, Private Eye.

In his 2013 memoir, All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage, he wrote that he had dreamed for decades of playing the hard-boiled detective.

Keach also earned praise for playing ageing boxer Billy Tully in John Huston’s Fat City in 1972.

In 1972, he reunited with Huston on The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. He also starred with George C. Scott in The New Centurions. The Bourne Legacy, American History X, Nebraska, Prison Break, Lights Out, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Doc, Brewster McCloud, That Championship Season and Titus are some of his other works.