Stacy Keach, 1941 – 2026

Versatile character actor Stacy Keach, 85, died on Nov. 10. The son of actor Stacy Keach, Sr., (his brother James is also an actor), he was a big, rough-and-tough looking performer, equally good at drama and comedy. He appeared on Broadway from the 1960s-2010s (in Danton’s Death, The Country Wife, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, King Lear, Indians, Deathtrap, and Other Desert Cities); he made his first splash in movies and TV in 1968, with The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Macbeth. Keach’s notable films included m Fat City, Nice Dreams, Brewster McCloud, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, The New Centurions, The Long Riders, Escape from L.A., American History X, and The Bourne Legacy. On TV, he starred in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and had recurring roles in Man with a Plan, Hot in Cleveland, Prison Break, Two and a Half Men, and Blue Bloods. Having been born with a cleft palate, Keach said that “A facial birth defect doesn't get in the way of achievement. Parents need to instill a positive sense of self-esteem in their children so they can pursue their dreams.”