Stacy Keach, Mike Hammer and Blue Bloods Star, Dead at 85

Keach, born in 1941 to Mary Caine and theater director and actor Stacy Keach Sr., simply followed in his parents' acting footsteps.

"It started with my family really," he recalled on the Let's Dive In podcast in October 2020. "My dad, God love him, was an actor. My mom studied acting even though she never went into it professionally. I grew up in a theatrical family."

But that's not to say Caine and Keach Sr. were too keen on their son catching the acting bug.

"My parents did not want me to become an actor," he admitted. "Having been in the business, they thought it was an insecure profession. It's fraught with heartache."

Nevertheless, though they hoped Keach would pursue law or medicine, he knew he was meant to be on the stage and in front of a camera. So, after acting in school plays at age 12, he began his professional acting career at age 20 with roles on the stage at the 1962 Oregon Shakespeare Festival in The Comedy of Errors, Henry IV Part 2 and Coriolanus.

Appearing in several Broadway, Off-Broadway and local shows, he earned a Best Actor Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award for 1970's Indian. Keach—often lauded for his roles in William Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet and Macbeth—was also inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2015.

While he continued in theater until 2018's Pamplona, he also earned several television roles, beginning with 1964's Channing before stepping into film with the 1967 TV movie The Winter's Tale. His first main character role came in 1997 as private investigator Mike Hammer in the titular series. He also appeared as a recurring character on Blue Bloods as Archbishop Kevin Kearns from 2016 to 2024.

Keach proved he was a jack of all trades, making his silver screen debut in 1968's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter as Jake Blount. He even narrated The Duellists, Ridley Scott's directorial debut, in 1977. He would go on to star in other projects like Fat City, Up in Smoke and American History X. His final role was in 2025's Jay Kelly as the father of George Clooney's titular character.

Looking back at his career, the actor opted to focus on the positives, rather than any potential missed opportunities. 

"I try not to dwell on mistakes and wallow in regret," he reflected in his 2013 memoir All in All: An Actor's Life On and Off the Stage. "If a script interests me, or a character intrigues me, or the cast features someone I've always wanted to work with, or the location is somewhere exotic, then sign me up."