Stacy Keach, actor known for playing detective Mike Hammer, dies at 85

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Set us as preferred Actor Stacy Keach, best known for his title role in the 1980s television series “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer,” has died.He was 85.Keach died at home Tuesday in Magdalenka, Poland, after a long battle with a heart condition and heart failure, his wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

“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.His passing leaves an immeasurable emptiness in our lives.

But his extraordinary spirit, his unforgettable voice and the love he gave so generously will remain with us forever,” Malgosia Tomassi Keach wrote.Stacy Keach was born on June 2, 1941, in Savannah, Ga., and soon moved to Los Angeles, where his father, Walter Stacy Keach Sr., joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor and director.

Inspired by his father’s work, Keach started acting as a teen at Van Nuys High School and UC Berkeley, where he studied English and dramatic arts.He attended the Yale School of Drama in 1966 and was a Fulbright scholar to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.Throughout his career, Keach balanced his work in television and movies while continuing classical and Broadway stage performances, with Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, Henry V, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Macbeth, Richard III and King Lear.

In 2015, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and was a founding member of L.A.Theatre Works.

The Times wrote in 2003 that he would appear in the group’s radio plays whenever he felt a need to flex his acting muscles.“You get to sort of dip your foot in the water of great theatrical art.

You get to wade in the pool.Most working actors in Los Angeles have other lives.

They have a series or are doing a movie and they...