Prison Break actor Stacy Keach dies at 85

Veteran American actor Stacy Keach, known for an elaborate career across theatre, film and television has died aged 85.

Keach died at his family home in Magdalenka, Poland, on Tuesday, November 10, 2026.

His wife, Malgosia Tomassi Keach, said he died after a long battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure.

“Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also my beloved husband,” she said.

Keach played the compassionate Warden Henry Pope at Fox River State Penitentiary in Prison Break. The character worked closely with Michael Scofield, played by Wentworth Miller, before the inmates escaped.

Keach appeared in 23 episodes between 2005 and 2007. He modelled Pope on a prison governor he met while serving a sentence in England. He admired the official’s belief that prisons should help inmates rebuild their lives. 

However, Prison Break formed only one part of a career that stretched across theatre, film and television.

Keach became widely known for playing hard-boiled private investigator Mike Hammer in several television series and films during the 1980s and 1990s.

He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of American writer Ernest Hemingway in the 1988 television miniseries Hemingway. The role also earned him an Emmy nomination.

His film credits included Fat City, The Long Riders, American History X, The Bourne Legacy and Nebraska. He also appeared in Two and a Half Men, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist and Man with a Plan. 

A classically trained actor, Keach earned recognition as one of America’s leading interpreters of Shakespeare. He played Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, King Lear and Falstaff on stage.

He also received a Tony Award nomination for playing Buffalo Bill in the Broadway production of Indians. His other honours included three Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and three Helen Hayes Awards.

Keach was born in Savannah, Georgia, on June 2, 1941. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, Yale School of Drama and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

He is survived by his wife and their two children, Shannon and Karolina.