Actor Stacy Keach, known for playing Hammer, Hamlet and Hemingway, dead at 85

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Nov 10 - Actor Stacy Keach, who portrayed rugged characters such as fictional detective Mike Hammer and legendary American novelist Ernest Hemingway, died on Tuesday at the age of 85, his wife said in a statement to Hollywood trade publication Variety. Read more at straitstimes.com.

71st Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film Gotti - Cannes, France, May 15, 2018. Cast member Stacy Keach. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

Nov 10 - Actor Stacy Keach, who portrayed rugged characters such as fictional detective Mike Hammer and legendary American novelist Ernest Hemingway, died on Tuesday at the age of 85, his wife said in a statement to Hollywood trade publication Variety.

Keach died in Poland "after a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure," Malgosia Tomassi said in a statement to Variety.

“Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family,” Tomassi said.

Keach stood out in dozens of starring and character actor parts on television and in films in roles as diverse as Barabbas (the TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth") and Richard Nixon (the play "Frost/Nixon"). He also had a busy stage career, often starring in Shakespearean works such as "King Lear" and "Hamlet." His performance as the latter in 1972 inspired a New York Times critic to label Keach "the finest American classic actor since John Barrymore."

Keach's most prominent role was Mike Hammer, the hard-boiled detective, clad in fedora and trenchcoat, in television adaptations of the works of suspense writer Mickey Spillane. "The New Mike Hammer" ran from the mid to late 1980s and Keach revived the character in the "Mike Hammer, Private Eye" series from 1997-98. He also played Hammer in four made-for-television movies and narrated audio versions of Spillane's books.

"I have been and always shall be Mike Hammer," Keach wrote in his 2013 autobiography, "All in All: An Actor's Life on and off the Stage."

He added, "Certain roles stick to you and I'm happy that Hammer is mine."

The first Hammer series was interrupted when Keach went to prison for six months in England in 1985 after more than 30 grams of cocaine were found in his possessions at London's Heathrow Airport.

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