One of the best interviews I ever did was with Stacy Keach. Too bad it was snatched away.
Keach was playing Warden Henry Pope on the Fox series Prison Break when I spoke with him in January of 2006. The series had an explosive start on Fox the previous summer and fall, making instant stars out of Dominic Purcell and Wentworth Miller. Another character, Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell, played by Robert Kepner, becoming a one-handed figure of fascination.
Although he was really only in the first season, the star for me was Keach, who passed away November 10 in Poland. He was 85.
Early in 2006, Fox held a promotional event during the Television Critics Association press tour at a trendy bistro in West Hollywood. The network had some momentum that season thanks to hits such as House, Bones, 24, That ’70s Show and the No. 1 series American Idol. That translated into plenty of sought-after talent on hand for the many TV beat writers looking to bag one-on-one interviews. It was less crowded outside in a darkened patio area peripherally lit by metal heating towers. At one tucked away table I had my moment with Keach.
Twenty years earlier, the Georgia native starred as a hard-nosed detective in the CBS series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. While revivals were attempted later, that series came to a premature halt when Keach was convicted of cocaine possession in England and served six months in prison. You could not miss all the “Hammer in the Slammer” headlines.
Keach was an amazing interview, exceptionally candid about his drug abuse and time served in a foreign prison. Arrested at Heathrow airport, he pled guilty to smuggling and served six months at Reading Prison.
advertisement
Keach described the place to me in vivid detail. Built in 1844 and closed in 2014, the jail once held famed playwright Oscar Wilde. Keach said there were dirt floors in some areas, and that he could spread his arms wide and tough the sides of his cell.
It was a sobering experience, to say the least, for the actor who had won raves and Drama Desk awards for Off-Broadway stage performances in “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “Hamlet.” His 1972 performance as Prince Hamlet was singled out by noted theatre critic Clive Barnes as, “one of the great Hamlets of our time.”
His younger brother, James Keach, also found success as an actor. Jame’s marriage to Jane Seymour gave the family a brief Barrymore glow. Stacy was on his third marriage at the time of his arrest.
The fourth marital union, to Malgorzata Tomassi, lasted 40 years to his death. Keach introduced me to Tomassi at that 2006 Fox press tour event and credited her with saving his life.
Wish I could check if their two children were with them that night, as I seem to recall. Shortly after attending that 2006 press tour, I returned to Toronto and my car, parked in an underground garage. When I returned the back right window was smashed and lifted out of the car was my laptop bag. Gone was the laptop and the digital recorder. Lost was that conversation plus several others (including a few from the set of the ill-fated NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip).
Keach enjoyed a long and steady career. Early successes included features such as “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” (1968), “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972), and the boxing film “Fat City” (1972) directed by John Huston. He played Barabbas in Franco Zeffirelli’s miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth” (1977) and an army scout in the 1982 miniseries “The Blue and the Grey.”
Later in his career he became a sought-after supporting actor in both comedies and dramas. He stood out as comedian John Titus‘s hard-ass dad on Titus (2000-2002). Titus never forgot his deep connection with his costar:
“Stacy Keach filled all the empty parts in my heart that my real Dad left vacant,” the comedian shared on social media. “I got to work with and was befriended by a genius, a powerhouse, an artist. He was called the American Olivier, slayed as King Lear, Stacy Keach could make Shakespeare stunning, become the Icon Mike Hammer and light a sitcom up where we literally had to cut because the audience laughed too long.
“He was never arrogant” he continued, “never acted like the superstar he was. Unfailingly kind, supportive, and dropped wisdom on you in a way so you instantly put that wisdom into your life.”
That was certainly the guy I met in that special little press tour moment from 20 years ago.
I saw him one other time, in 2016, when Keach was with other cast members promoting a series called Crowded (2016). That multi-generational comedy starred Patrick Warburton (The Tick) and was about grown children moving back in with their boomer parents. Keach was one of the crusty seniors.
I was with several other reporters on a set visit when we were shuttled to the fabled 20th Century Fox commissary. This cool bit of Hollywood history, decorated by art deco murals of Shirley Temple and Will Rogers, dated back to the 1930s.
Keach and other members of Crowded walked into commissary. He spotted another older actor, somebody he evidently had not seen in years. They walked toward each other, grinned and hugged. Keach looked him in the eye and said, “We’re still here.”
