Michael Madsen, the actor who was a basic element in numerous films of Quentin Tarantino, including “Kill Bill” and “Reservoir Dogs”, died. He was 67 years old.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff confirmed to the Times that the agents responded to Malibu's house on Thursday morning and found him without responding. He was declared dead at 8:25 am, the spokesman said that Madsen apparently died from natural causes.
Madsen's managers, Susan Ferris and Ron Smith, and publicist Liz Rodríguez also confirmed news of the death of the prolific actor in a statement shared with the Times on Thursday. Smith said Madsen, who obtained almost 330 action credits during his decades, died of cardiac arrest.
“Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood's most emblematic actors, which many will be surprised by many,” said the representatives's statement.
Madsen, born in Chicago in September 1957 of a filmmaker and father of a firefighter, began her professional career on the screen in the early 1980s, but became better known for interpreting dirty antagonists in her collaborations with Tarantino. It remarkably appeared as the ruthless and lover of torture of torture in “Reservoir Dogs” and as the Sordid Budd in the films “Kill Bill” led by Uma Thurman, who met his horrible final at the hands of the driver of Elle de Daryl Hannah and a snake of black moms. “The Hateful Eight” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” were Madsen's most recent collaborations with Tarantino.
In the Thriller of 2007, “Boarding Gate”, Madsen played against his typical role, played as a gloomy American businessman who lives in Europe. “The fact is that I really do not have the opportunity to play a role like this,” he told the Times in 2008.
“Nobody wants to put me in a suit and a draw and make me feel in an office, much less give me love scenes,” he added. “People are much more comfortable when I have a cigarette in my mouth and a gun in hand.”
The veteran actor, older brother of the star of “Candyman” Oscar nominated, Virginia Madsen, remained occupied until his death, appearing in numerous projects almost every year. It appeared in films, including “The Doors”, “Thelma & Louise”, “Free Willy”, “Species” and “Without City”. He also appeared in the television series “Powers”, “24”, “Tilt”, “Vengeance Unlimited” and “Our Family Honor”.
Madsen had 18 projects in the works before his death, according to IMDB. In his statement, his representatives said that Madsen had “been doing incredible job” and promoted his work in the next films “Resurrection Road”, “Concessions” and “Cookbook for Southern Housewives”. Madsen, who was “really waiting for this next chapter of his life” according to his repetitions, also had a new book, “tears for my father: Outlaw thoughts and poems,” he will arrive on the shelves in September with a prologue by Tarantino.
“One of the reasons why Michael's work has so much meaning for me is that he is writing about feelings and emotions that sometimes sometimes the last generations have become blind,” says Oscar's winning filmmaker in the prologue. “Part of Michael's work is about family memories. A moment he saw his mother wrapping his arms around his father's waist, or how his sister looked in a particular dress. Some believe that jazz. Some are the best recordings of the gypsy life of a film actor I have read.”
Quentin Tarantino, on the left, and Michael Madsen at a private party in New York celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Reservoir Dogs” in 2017.
(Kevin Mazur / Getty Images)
Later he adds: “The real trip that Michael the writer is exploring is what it means to be a man in a world in which the notions of virility with which some of us grew up are barely remembered. But then, if everyone embarked on the hero's trip, all would be a hero, right?”
Madsen married the wife Deanna Madsen in 1996 and shared three children: Hudson, Luke and Calvin. Hudson, who was the godson of Tarantino, died in 2022.
“It's very tragic and sad,” Madsen said in January 2022. “I'm just trying to make sense of everything and understand what happened.”
Outside the screen, Madsen had several brushes with the law, especially arrested in Malibu in 2019 under suspicion of minor crimes under influence. He had been hospitalized in 2012 after being arrested under suspicion of DUI and was arrested again that year after allegedly fighting with his son. He was arrested again in August 2024 under suspicion of conjugal drums. After the news of alleged tensions with his wife, Madsen dismissed the reports, writing on social networks that “losing a child is the most difficult and painful experience that can happen in this world.”
He assured the fans that he loved his wife and his children, also speaking frankly about the durable toll of losing his son. “I don't think my son is dead, I think he escaped a life that no longer made sense,” said the actor.
Madsen was also a photographer, screenwriter, producer and poet published. His mother survives him, Elaine; His wife, Deanna; His children, Christian, Max, Calvin, Luke and Jessica; and brothers Virginia and Cheryl.
The former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.
