Stacy Keach Dies at 85 After Heart Condition and Heart Failure
Stacy Keach, the actor known for Prison Break and The Blacklist, has died at 85 at his family home in Poland. His wife, Małgosia Tomassi, said he died after a long battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure. Keach’s career spanned film, television and theater.
Stacy Keach, the Prison Break and The Blacklist actor, died at 85 at his family home in Poland, his wife said.
Małgosia Tomassi said Keach died on Tuesday local time after “a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure.”
Keach played prison warden Henry Pope in Prison Break and Robert Vesco in The Blacklist. His screen career also included films such as Fat City, American History X and The Bourne Legacy.
A career across stage and screen
Born Walter Stacy Keach in Georgia in 1941, he began his career onstage, appearing in off-Broadway plays. He later won awards for his theater work in Richard III and Macbeth with the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Keach earned a bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Art at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Fine Arts at the Yale School of Drama. He was also a Fulbright Scholar at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
He became a television star as private detective Mike Hammer, appearing in Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, The New Mike Hammer and Mike Hammer, Private Eye.
His later television credits included a guest role on Will & Grace, a recurring role on Two and a Half Men and a cameo on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Remembered by his family
Tomassi described Keach as both a celebrated actor and the center of their family. “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 said.
Keach was born with a cleft lip and a partial cleft of the hard palate. He underwent multiple surgeries as a child and chaired the Cleft Palate Foundation, which advocates for people with the condition.
He married Tomassi, a Polish former model and actress, after they met on the set of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer in the 1980s. The couple adopted two children, Shannon and Karolina, and lived in Poland.
“His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives,” Tomassi said. “But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever.”
