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Stacy Keach (1941–2026) Stacy Keach, one of America’s finest stage actors and television’s definitive Mike Hammer, died on Tuesday, November 10, at his family home in Magdalenka, Poland. He was 85. His wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, said he died “after a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure,” adding: “He fought for so long, with extraordinary courage, determination and strength. He was a true warrior.” Born Walter Stacy Keach Jr. on June 2, 1941, in Savannah, Georgia, to actor parents, Keach trained at UC Berkeley, Yale School of Drama, and in London as a Fulbright scholar. He was regarded as a preeminent interpreter of Shakespeare — playing Hamlet, Richard III, King Lear, Henry V and more — and earned a Tony nomination for playing Buffalo Bill in Indians on Broadway. To millions, though, he was Mike Hammer: the fedora, the trench coat, the gravel voice, the modern-day knight championing the underdog. He first played Mickey Spillane’s hard-boiled detective in the 1983 TV movie Murder Me, Murder You, then carried the role through multiple series and TV movies over the next 15 years. His range was astonishing: Sgt. Stedenko in the Cheech & Chong films, boxer Tully in John Huston’s Fat City, Barabbas in Jesus of Nazareth, Ernest Hemingway — for which he won a Golden Globe — the warden in Prison Break, Ken in Titus, and roles in Nebraska, The Bourne Legacy, American History X, and Blue Bloods. His life also carried a painful public chapter. In 1984, while starring as Hammer, he was arrested at London Heathrow for trying to smuggle cocaine into Britain and served six months of a nine-month sentence. He later called it the lowest moment of his life, testified before Congress about addiction, and took his warning to campuses and rehab centres. He returned, rebuilt, and kept working for decades — including a celebrated late turn last year as George Clooney’s bitter father in Jay Kelly. He is survived by his wife Malgosia, and his children Shannon and Karolina.