Cited frequently as one of American’s finest stage actors, Stacy Keach was a multiple award winner for his commanding performances in productions ranging from the works of Shakespeare to modern classics like “MacBird,” “Indians” and “The Kentucky Cycle,” which netted him widespread acclaim as the “American Olivier” as well as a Tony nomination and multiple Obies and Drama Desk Awards. His career in front of the camera yielded mixed results – though he was praised for early film roles like “Doc” (1970) and John Huston’s “Fat City” (1972), he never received the same degree of praise as contemporaries like Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson. More often than not, he could be found dividing his time between quality projects like “The Long Riders” (1980) and “W” (2008) and low-budget efforts like “Mountain of the Cannibal God” (1978) and “Class of 1999” (1990). Television was always his most successful medium outside of the stage – he received a Golden Globe nomination for his turn as the two-fisted private eye “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” (CBS, 1984-87), though the series was interrupted by his much-publicized arrest for drug possession in 1985, which earned him six months in a London prison. Despite his infamous legal troubles – Keach fans never lost their admiration and love for the man; the moustache – particularly when – in the great tradition of Bogart or Ladd – their hero donned the infamous Hammer trench coat to save the damsel in distress and nail the bad guys like no other TV actor of his time.
Born Walter Stacy Keach, Jr. in Savannah, GA on June 2, 1941, he was one of two sons born to his namesake father, an actor and producer best known for creating the popular radio serial “Tales of the Texas Rangers” in the early 1950s and countless television appearances. Brother James Keach also followed their father into the acting profession and later made his name as a television director and co-producer of the Johnny Cash biopic, “Walk the Line” (2005). Stacy Keach, Jr. developed an interest in performance while in grade school but accumulated considerable experience first, as a high schooler and later, as a college student at the University of California at Berkeley in 1959. Acclaim for these early turns netted him a scholarship to Yale Drama School in 1964; a year which also marked his professional stage debut in a New York Central Park production of “Hamlet” for producer Joseph Papp. The following year, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to London’s Academy of Dramatic Art and Music before returning to America and a job with the Lincoln Center Repertory in 1966.
At the Repertory, his appearance as a murderous Lyndon B. Johnson in the satire “MacBird” won him his first Obie and Drama Desk Awards. He further distinguished himself with appearances in “The Country Wife,” “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” and a 1968 production of “King Lear” with Lee J. Cobb in the title role. The following year, Keach earned a Tony nomination in his Broadway debut as Western legend Buffalo Bill Cody in Arthur Kopit’s “Indians.” Theater would form the backbone of his acting career for much of the early 1970s, from which he would reap numerous awards for his work, including Obies for “Long Day’s Journey into Night” in 1971 and “Hamlet” – the first Broadway production to ever feature an American in the lead – in 1972.
Keach began his work in features in the late 1960s with a supporting turn as an alcoholic labor agitator in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” (1968). His success on stage elevated him to leading man status by the turn of the decade, but his choice of projects were noted more for the quality of production and eclecticism of the subject matter than their box office returns. He was a mentally troubled college professor who undergoes radical therapy in the Terry Southern-penned “End of the Road” (1970), while “The Traveling Executioner” (1970) was the curious tale of a love affair between a man (Keach) who toured the country with an electric chair and a female prisoner. Turns in Robert Altman’s “Brewster McCloud” (1972) as an ancient flying ace and famed gunman Doc Holliday in “Doc” (1971) further solidified the notion of Keach as an actor in pursuit of quality roles instead of movie fame. However, he did find both in “The New Centurions” (1972), a police drama about a veteran cop (George C. Scott) and his new partner (Keach). He followed this with the acclaimed “Fat City” (1972), a gritty drama by director John Huston about a washed-up fighter whose personal problems stand in the way of a comeback. Critics also praised him for his portrayal of religious reformer Martin Luther in “Luther” (1973), and he was on the fast track to claiming the role of Father Karras in “The Exorcist” (1973), which might have marked his first blockbuster hit. He turned down the part, which went to Jason Miller, and returned to a string of largely unseen features like “Oklahoma Crude” (1973), “The Gravy Train” (1974) and “The Killer Inside Me” (1976). Keach also tried his hand at a TV series with the cop drama “Caribe” (ABC, 1975), but it lasted only a season.
Keach’s film career eventually stalled in the late seventies, though he remained active in a wide and often deeply disparate variety of films ranging from Walter Hill’s thoughtful Western, “The Long Riders” (1980), which cast him and brother James Keach as Frank and Jesse James, to the Cheech and Chong comedy “Up in Smoke” (1978) – even to “Mountain of the Cannibal God” (1979), a ghastly slab of Italian horror-exploitation with Ursula Andress. Television soon offered richer and more lucrative parts – he was the thief Barabbas in Franco Zefferelli’s epic “Jesus of Nazareth” (1978), and enjoyed high-profile roles in the Emmy-nominated “A Rumor of War” (1980) and the Civil War miniseries “The Blue and the Gray” (1982).
In 1983, he donned the porkpie hat and trench coat of famed fictional detective Mike Hammer in the TV-movie “Murder Me, Murder You” (1983). The project spawned a series, “Mike Hammer,” which eschewed creator Mickey Spillane’s graphic violence and kneejerk politics, but retained his somewhat primitive attitude towards female characters, which were largely viewed as eye candy for Keach’s Hammer. The show was a success thanks to its easily exploited elements – sex and gunplay – but Keach was a supremely confident and capable Hammer; less brutish than in previous film incarnations, but still very much a man’s man. When the actor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance, Keach appeared to be on the verge of his first bonafide identifiable hit.
But in 1985, the rising star fell to Earth in quick humiliation. At a time when the majority of celebrities did not openly discuss their drug usage – to say nothing of being caught red-handed with the illegal substance in the first place – Keach was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport for possession of cocaine. The actor took some startling knocks from a less-than-forgiving press and public for his troubles, but to the surprise of everyone – particularly his network bosses – he returned to London to serve his jail time and make a clean slate of his life. His no-nonsense approach earned the praise of many, including then-President Ronald Reagan’s wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan. But to say the arrest was a shocker was an understatement. Upon his return, he reprised Hammer in a 1986 TV-movie, “The Return of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer,” which earned strong audience reception; i.e., strong public forgiveness. A follow-up series, “The New Mike Hammer” (CBS, 1986-87) was quickly ordered, but fans of the previous version found this new take somewhat lacking in the cheesecake and shoot-out department, rendering it cancelled after just a year.
Keach rebounded with a critically praised performance as literary giant Ernest Hemingway in the 1988 miniseries “Hemingway,” which brought him a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination. The success was short-lived, however, with Keach finding himself back in the regular rotation for forgettable TV-movies and feature films. He did, however, remain remarkably active on stage, winning numerous awards, including a Helen Hayes Award and Drama Desk Award for the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Kentucky Cycle” in 1994. Keach also found himself much in demand as a voice-over artist for all manner of television documentaries and series like “Nova” (PBS, 1974- ). He even reprised Mike Hammer for a third time in the syndicated series “Mike Hammer, Private Eye” (1997-98), but it too failed to find an audience. More successful was his starring turn opposite George Wendt and David Dukes in the West End production of “Art” in 1998, which preceded a well-received return to television as a monumentally irresponsible dad on “Titus,” which garnered him a Satellite Award nomination. Keach also earned positive responses as a seductive Neo-Nazi recruiter in Tony Kaye’s controversial feature “American History X” (1998).
More television and feature roles preceded his recurring role as a sympathetic prison warden in the action-drama “Prison Break” (Fox, 2005- ). A revolving door of film, television and theater projects kept Keach remarkably active after the new millennium. Among the more notable roles were a heroic turn as the title role in a Chicago production of “King Lear” in 2006 and appearances in John Sayles’ “Honeydripper” (2007) and Oliver Stone’s “W” (2008). In the latter, Keach joined a typically illustrious Stone-assembled cast – which included Ellen Burstyn, Richard Dreyfuss and James Cromwell, amongst others – as a minister to Josh Brolin’s President George W. Bush in the thought-provoking but controversial satire.