Michael Madsen is dead at the age of 67 from cardiac arrest, IndieWire has confirmed. He was found unresponsive July 3 in his Malibu home. The prolific character actor was best known for his decades-spanning collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, appearing in the director’s “Reservoir Dogs,” “Kill Bill,” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
One of the finest character actors of the past 40 years, Madsen instantly grabbed viewers’ attention in any scene he was in, with his trademark husky drawl. He was a scene-stealer without ever chewing the scenery, always embodying various degrees of laconic. Born in Chicago in 1957, and the sister of fellow screen star Virginia Madsen, he nonetheless embodied traits filmgoers would identify more with that of a cowboy, and he often wore a 10-gallon hat, bolo tie, and sunglasses when appearing on the red carpet.
“In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films ‘Resurrection Road,’ ‘Concessions’ and ”Cookbook for Southern Housewives, and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life,” said a statement obtained by IndieWire from his managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith and publicist Liz Rodriguez. “Michael was also preparing to release a new book called ‘Tears for My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems’ currently being edited.”
He added, “Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many.”
Cutting his teeth at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Madsen likely made his first big impression on cinephiles with his turn as “Bump” Bailey in 1984’s “The Natural.” The cocky outfielder burned himself into viewers’ brains by being lazy and corrupt enough to go along with the New York Knights’ owner’s scheme to lose as many baseball games as possible, even avoiding an opportunity to get on-base because he had a cigar in his back pocket and didn’t want to slide. When Bump does show a little effort, he crashes through the outfield wall and somehow dies, his ashes then scattered from an airplane flying over the stadium. Unforgettable. And in a movie, in addition to star Robert Redford, pretty much populated with memorable character actors.
That’s what Madsen could do with a role: Leave an indelible mark with relatively little screen time. It was a quality Quentin Tarantino undeniably recognized when he cast him for his debut film, the ensemble piece “Reservoir Dogs,” the kind of story that basically requires that it be built around character actors. Madsen scarred viewers’ forever as the psychotic Vic Vega, who slices off a cop’s ear while doing a slow-shuffle to “Stuck in the Middle with You.”
And yet somehow he could also play the good guy foster parent Glen in “Free Willy.” Blood soaked Tarantino movie or ’90s family film? Madsen could fit right in either way.
More collaborations with Tarantino followed, particularly his role as Budd, the strip club bouncer who’d once been a hired gun for the title character in “Kill Bill.” This is the kind of role Madsen did best: The kind of coiled menace so lowkey his line readings are a breathy purr. The kind of persona to obsess ever. The kind that actually led to a 2007 mockumentary being made about him, drawing from his Steppenwolf classes with the theater’s co-founder John Malkovich, called “Being Michael Madsen” — an obvious play on the Spike Jonze film. A lot of direct-to-video genre films, Westerns especially, followed.
But he had one last great hurrah with Tarantino, appearing as Sheriff Hackett in the fictional Western TV series “Bounty Law” in 2019’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” where his so-relaxed-it-may-be-threatening demeanor came to inspire a little fear in Rick Dalton’s small-screen alter ego Jake Cahill. As soon as you see him there, as you do in every movie, you go “That’s Michael Madsen.”
He is survived by his sister, actress Virginia Madsen, wife DeAnna Morgan, and five children.