Tony-Nominated Actor Stacy Keach Dies at 85

Actor Stacy Keach died on Tuesday at the age of 85 after a battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure, as stated by his wife, Małgosia Tomassi. He died at the family’s home in Magdalenka, Poland.

Keach made his Broadway debut in Georg Buchner’s Danton’s Death in 1965. Other Broadway credits included the original Broadway production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1966 and Edmund in King Lear in 1968. He received a Tony nomination in 1970 for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Buffalo Bill in Arthur Kopit’s Indians. His most recent Broadway credit was playing Lyman Wyeth in the original cast of Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz in 2011.

Keach also performed off-Broadway in Barbara Garson’s MacBird! in 1966, in title role of Hamlet in 1972, as James Tyrone Jr. in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night in 1971, and many others. He toured in the title role of the Cy Coleman musical Barnum in the 1980s and was a founding member of LA Theatre Works.

In addition to his stage career, Keach worked extensively in television and film, with over 200 screen credits, most notably as Mike Hammer on CBS from 1984 to 1987. His final film role was in Jay Kelly in 2025.

He is survived by his wife, whom he married in 1986; their children Shannon and Karolina; and his brother James Keach.