Actor Michael Madsen has died after being found unresponsive at his Malibu home Thursday morning. He was 67.
Known for portraying complex tough guys and as a frequent collaborator of director Quentin Tarantino, Madsen built a four-decade career with memorable roles in Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Donnie Brasco, and Thelma & Louise.
Deputies responded to a 911 call at Madsen’s house and pronounced the actor dead at 8:25 a.m. Madsen is believed to have died from natural causes, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. His rep told The Hollywood Reporter, “we understand Michael had a cardiac arrest.”
Madsen’s longtime friend and assistant, Dougie Smith, told TMZ that he was the one who found the Chicago-born actor deceased at his home after not hearing from him all day Wednesday.
Smith said Madsen’s death came as a shock to family and friends, especially since doctors had given him a clean bill of health just last Friday.
“He looked like he had been in the best health he had been in all year!” Smith told the outlet.
Over the course of his prolific career, Madsen racked up more than 300 acting credits beginning in the 1980s, but his work with Tarantino stands out—his stoic, intense screen presence making him a natural fit for the director’s gritty worlds.
In his first collaboration with the director, Madsen played Mr. Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs—a sadistic criminal who famously cuts off a cop’s ear while dancing to “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel.
His gravelly voice also found a home in video games, including Grand Theft Auto III and True Crime: Streets of L.A.
Madsen’s private life was at times tumultuous. Last year, he was arrested in Malibu on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge, which his representatives described as a “disagreement” between him and his wife, DeAnna.
The case was later dismissed due to “insufficient evidence,” and shortly afterward, Madsen filed for divorce from DeAnna, 64, ending their 28-year marriage. In court documents, he described himself as a “victim in an abusive, co-dependent, and toxic” relationship. He also accused DeAnna’s “neglect, drinking and alcoholism” of contributing to the 2022 suicide of their 26-year-old son, Hudson, the oldest of Michael’s three children with DeAnna.
Madsen is also the father of two older sons, Christian and Max, from his previous relationship with ex-wife Jeannine Bisignano, and has a daughter, Jessica, from an earlier relationship.
In 2019, the actor crashed his Land Rover into a pole in Malibu, and he was subsequently sentenced to four days in jail and five years probation, after pleading no contest to one count of DUI within 10 years of another DUI offense.
He described fame as a “two-edged sword,” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2018. “There are a lot of blessings but also a lot of heavy things that come with it. I think it has a lot to do with the characters I’ve played. I think I’ve been more believable than I should have been. I think people really fear me. They see me and go: ”Holy s--t, there’s that guy!”
Madsen’s managers said he was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems.
