Michael Madsen, the imposing and wry actor best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, is dead at 67. The actor died of natural causes at home on July 3, NBC Los Angeles reported. His death was confirmed by managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith, as well as his publicist, Liz Rodriguez. “Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many,” they wrote in a statement. Madsen had worked steadily in independent film over the past decade, and he was preparing to release a book titled Tears for My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems.
Madsen got his start in Chicago with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, working as an apprentice to John Malkovich. He appeared in five of Tarantino’s films: Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Reservoir Dogs, Madsen played Mr. Blonde, the most sadistic of the criminals fighting for survival. Despite the character’s penchant for cruelty, Madsen brought a light touch and undeniable charisma to the part. He was scary, sure, but shouldn’t someone so scary not feel quite so fun to root for? In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, his character tortures a cop while dancing to “Stuck in the Middle With You.” “I was so intimidated by it. I didn’t know if I could do it. In the script, it just said, ‘Mr. Blonde dances maniacally around the cop.’ What does that mean? Then I suddenly recalled a dance that I saw James Cagney do in a movie — I can’t remember which one. It just popped into my head, and that’s what I decided to do,” Madsen recalled at a 2017 Tribeca retrospective screening of the film. Cagney, like Madsen, had a knack for comedic timing and a lightness in his physicality. For such an imposing figure, Madsen could make the biggest scenes feel intimate. Sometimes that could be scary, but mostly it was a thrill.
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