\n\tMichael Madsen, the rough-and-tumble actor best known for his work in the Quentin Tarantino films Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, died Thursday morning. He was 67.<\/p>\n
\n\tMadsen was found unresponsive by deputies responding to a 911 call at his Malibu home and pronounced dead at 8:25 a.m., a Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.<\/p>\n
\n\tLiz Rodriguez, his rep at EMR Media Entertainment, told THR \u201cwe understand Michael had a cardiac arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMadsen\u2019s official bio notes that he \u201cbalanced intensity with introspection \u2026 whether delivering chilling dialogue or quietly capturing a moment behind the camera, his commitment to storytelling remained constant. He brought both edge and soul to every role, and his enduring influence on American cinema is undeniable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHis big-screen body of work included WarGames (1983), The Natural (1984), The Doors (1991), Thelma & Louise (1991), Free Willy (1993), Species (1995), Mulholland Falls (1996), Donnie Brasco (1997), Die Another Day (2002), Sin City (2005) and Scary Movie 4 (2006).<\/p>\n
\n\tHe has 346 acting credits and counting on IMDb in a career that began in the early 1980s.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cFame is a two-edged sword,\u201d he told<\/a> THR\u2019s Scott Roxborough in 2018. \u201cThere 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\u2019ve played. I think I\u2019ve been more believable than I should have been. I think people really fear me. They see me and go: \u2018Holy shit, there\u2019s that guy!\u2019<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut I\u2019m not that guy. I\u2019m just an actor. I\u2019m a father, I\u2019ve got seven children. I\u2019m married, I\u2019ve been married 20 years. When I\u2019m not making a movie, I\u2019m home, in pajamas, watching The Rifleman on TV, hopefully with my 12-year-old making me a cheeseburger. I sure as hell had my rabble-rousing days, but sooner or later you have to get over that and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe appeared in dozens of films in the past five years alone, many of which were forgettable.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWell, sometimes people forget that sometimes you have to pay the mortgage, sometimes you have to put your kids through school,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t always pick the greatest script. And you pick a project you probably shouldn\u2019t be involved in and then you have to live with it all your life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMichael was one of the greatest American actors,\u201d his friend and lawyer Perry Wander said in a statement. \u201cHis onscreen presence was macho, but he was a very sweet, sensitive man who wrote incredible poetry and had it published in a number of books. He was my dearest friend and client for the past 20 years and I will miss him. I\u2019m so sad. I know his soul is at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOne of three kids, Madsen was born in Chicago on Sept. 25, 1957. His father, Calvin, was a firefighter with the Chicago Fire Department, and his mother, Elaine, was an author turned filmmaker who won an Emmy in 1983 for producing the documentary Better Than It Has to Be, about the history of movie-making in the Windy City. His folks divorced when he was 11.<\/p>\n \n\tInspired by Robert Mitchum in the war movie Heaven Knows Mr. Allison (1957), Madsen began his acting career at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where he learned from John Malkovich and appeared in Of Mice and Men as Carlson, the ranch hand who kills an innocent dog.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter moving to Los Angeles and working as a mechanic at a gas station in Beverly Hills, he appeared in two episodes of NBC\u2019s St. Elsewhere in 1982, then played a cop in WarGames, directed by John Badham.<\/p>\n \n\tIn Tarantino\u2019s directorial debut film, Reservoir Dogs (1992), Madsen landed the role of the ultra-cruel Mr. Blonde. He said he really wanted to play Mr. Pink because he had more lines with the veteran Harvey Keitel, but Steve Buscemi got that part. It was the psychotic Mr. Blonde or nothing, Tarantino told him. <\/p>\n