Michael Madsen, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor, Dead at 67

Michael Madsen, the prolific actor best known for playing tough guys in Quentin Tarantino films like Reservoir Dogs and the Kill Bill series, has died at the age of 67.

Madsen’s reps confirmed the actor’s death to Variety, adding that he died Thursday morning from cardiac arrest in Malibu, California.

“In the last two years Michael Madsen has been doing some incredible work with independent film including upcoming feature films Resurrection Road, Concessions and Cookbook for Southern Housewives, and was really looking forward to this next chapter in his life. Michael was also preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems currently being edited,” Madsen’s managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith and publicist Liz Rodriguez said in a joint statement. “Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many.”

After beginning his acting career in the Eighties and spending much of that decade in bit roles — including a small part in Oliver Stone’s The Doors biopic — Madsen found overnight success in 1992 with his unforgettable turn as “Mr. Blonde” in Tarantino’s debut film Reservoir Dogs.

In that acclaimed film, Madsen portrayed a sadistic criminal who — in one of the most infamous scenes in Tarantino’s filmography — cuts off the ear of a policeman with a straight razor while dancing to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You”:

After his turn in Reservoir Dogs, the now-prolific Madsen continued filling the big screen in tough guy roles in films like The Getaway, Donnie Brasco, Mulholland Falls, and Wyatt Earp; in an against-type role, Madsen also portrayed the protagonist’s adopted father in the 1993 drama Free Willy and its sequel.

The Chicago-born actor, and brother of Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, also appeared in the James Bond film Die Another Day before reuniting with Tarantino in the early 2000s for the director’s Kill Bill series; after a brief appearance in the first film, Madsen had an entire segment devoted to him in 2004’s Volume 2, playing Budd, a retired assassin (and brother of the titular Bill) living in a mobile home in the desert:

Over the next 20 years, Madsen remained prolific, appearing in dozens of TV shows, movies, video games, voice acting roles, and music videos: Madsen featured the lengthy intro to Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me” visual, as well as Sky Ferreira’s “Obsession” and Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow.” The actor also starred as a version of himself in the mockumentary Being Michael Madsen.

In addition to appearing in Tarantino’s 2015 Western The Hateful Eight, Madsen reunited with the director once more for a cameo as a TV sheriff in 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Walton Goggins, who starred with Madsen in The Hateful Eight, wrote in a tribute to the actor: “Michael Madsen… this man… this artist… this poet… this rascal…Fucking ICON…. Aura like no one else. Ain’t enough words so I’ll just say this…. I love you buddy. A H8TER forever.”

From Rolling Stone US.