The Reservoir Dogs star died of natural causes at his Malibu home.
Actor Michael Madsen has passed away at the age of 67. The prolific character actor, who shot to prominence after key appearances in Thelma and Louise in 1991 and Reservoir Dogs in 1992, was found unresponsive at his Malibu home on July 3. As reported by NBC News, the cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Craggy-faced and gravelly-voiced, Madsen was a perennial on-screen tough guy – an actor born to play the heavy. He was best known for his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino. Following Reservoir Dogs, ol’ chinface cast him in both volumes of Kill Bill, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Madsen self-deprecatingly joked that he was often pigeonholed as “the guy with the cigarette and the gun”.
But while his filmography is heavy with heavies, he occasionally got to display a more sensitive side. In Free Willy he was a caring foster dad to the child hero only a year after slicing off an ear in Reservoir Dogs. Still, Madsen spent most of his career playing tough guys in stuff like Donnie Brasco, Species, and The Getaway.
Madsen was famously tapped to play heroin addicted hitman Vincent Vega in Tarantino’s second film, Pulp Fiction, but scheduling conflicts saw the role go the John Travolta instead. Travolta’s moribund career was instantly revitalised and the Saturday Night Fever star scored a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his trouble. Madsen, who took a part in Kevin Costner bomb Wyatt Earp over Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino didn’t speak for years.
As a working actor, Madsen wasn’t shy about taking part in low brow exploitation fare. Anyone with a title like Piranhaconda on their C.V. understands the value of a paycheque. But he occasionally flirted with mainstream stardom. Outside of his more prominent film roles, the closest he came was playing the series lead, vigilante Mr Chapel, in the 1998 ABC crime drama, Vengeance Unlimited. The show was cancelled after one season.
Madsen is survived by five children; his wife, DeAnna Morgan; his mother, filmmaker Elaine Madsen; and his sister, actor Virginia Madsen.
On Instagram Virginia wrote a poem in memory of her brother, beginning, “My brother Michael has left the stage. He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother — etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark. We’re not mourning a public figure. We’re not mourning a myth—but flesh and blood and ferocious heart.”
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