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Stacy Keach, the actor known for playing the title detective in CBS’s The New Mike Hammer and appearing in the film Fat City, has died at 85. His wife, Małgosia Tomassi, confirmed his death to Variety.
Keach died Tuesday at the family home in Magdalenka, Poland, Tomassi said. She attributed his death to a serious heart condition and heart failure, describing his illness as a long and difficult battle.
His career crossed stage, film and television, with Mike Hammer becoming a recurring role over more than a decade. For other viewers, he was a familiar voice as the narrator of CNBC’s American Greed, or a screen presence in shows including Blue Bloods.
A stage career and a detective he returned to
Born Walter Stacy Keach Jr. in Savannah, Georgia, Keach earned recognition on Broadway before his best-known television role. He received a Tony nomination for playing Buffalo Bill in the 1969 production of Indians.
His stage work continued long after that early nomination. In 2010, he received a Helen Hayes Award for his performance in King Lear with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The two milestones came more than 40 years apart.
Between them, Keach became associated with Mike Hammer through the CBS series The New Mike Hammer, which aired from 1984 to 1987. He starred as the detective and later returned to the character in productions made for different parts of the television business.
In 1989, he reprised the role in the television movie Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All. He played Hammer again in the syndicated series Mike Hammer, Private Eye, which ran from 1997 to 1998.
The timeline gives viewers a way to trace the performance from a network series to a television movie and then a syndicated series. It also places Keach’s later return more than a decade after the CBS run began, alongside a stage career that was still bringing him recognition.
From film roles to a voice on American television
Keach’s film credits included Fat City, as well as The Bourne Legacy and Nebraska. His work continued into his eighties across film, television and the stage.
The publication reported that his final role was in the 2025 film Jay Kelly. He played the father of the title character, portrayed by George Clooney. That credit came more than half a century after Keach’s Tony-nominated performance in Indians.
On television, his work extended well beyond the detective role. Keach played Cardinal Kevin Kearns on Blue Bloods and appeared in Two and a Half Men, Ray Donovan, Man With a Plan and The Black List.
He also reached television audiences through his voice. In addition to narrating American Greed, he had a recurring voice role on The Simpsons. Those credits sit alongside his screen acting rather than his stage work, adding another dimension to a career that spanned several forms of performance.
For viewers who know Keach chiefly as Hammer, the later film and television credits offer a broader picture: he continued to take on screen and voice work years after the detective’s return in syndication. His stage awards, meanwhile, bookend a period in which he was working across those different audiences.
