Stacy Keach died on Tuesday at his family home in Magdalenka, Poland, his wife Malgosia Keach said in a statement to People. He had lived with a serious heart condition for years and died of heart failure. She described him as a legendary actor loved by audiences worldwide, and also as her husband, her companion and the heart of their family.
The statement read, "It is with profound sadness and a broken heart that I announce the passing of my darling husband, Stacy Keach. After a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure, Stacy peacefully departed this world. He fought for so long, with extraordinary courage, determination and strength."
A detective he had waited a lifetime to play
Most television viewers will remember him for the trench coat. Keach first played Mickey Spillane’s private eye in the 1983 CBS television movie Murder Me, Murder You. That led to The New Mike Hammer in 1984, and he returned to the character in later TV films and in the 1997 series Mike Hammer, Private Eye.
The role meant a great deal to him. In his 2013 memoir, All in All: An Actor’s Life On and Off the Stage, Keach said Spillane’s novels had captivated him as a boy, and that playing Hammer was a dream he carried…
