Actor Michael Madsen, Who Had More Than 300 Film and TV Roles, Dies

Michael Madsen, the actor best known for his coolly menacing, steely-eyed, often sadistic characters in the films of Quentin Tarantino including Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill: Vol. 2, has died.

Madsen was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, on Thursday morning and pronounced dead, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Watch Commander Christopher Jauregui said. He is believed to have died of natural causes, and authorities do not suspect any foul play was involved. Madsen’s manager Ron Smith said cardiac arrest was the apparent cause. He was 67.

Madsen’s performance as the menacing Mr. Blonde in 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs” made him a star.

Miramax/Everett Collection

Madsen’s career spanned more than 300 credits stretching back to the early 1980s, many in low-budget and independent films. He often played low-level thugs, gangsters and shady cops in small roles. Tarantino would use that identity, but make him a main character.

His torture of a captured police officer in Tarantino’s 1992 directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, in which Madsen’s black-suited bank robber Vic “Mr. Blonde” Vega severs the man’s ear while dancing to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” was an early career-defining moment for both director and actor.

He would become a Tarantino regular. He had a small role as the cowboy-hatted desert dweller Budd, a member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, in 2003’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1, then a starring role the following year in the sequel, in which he battles with Uma Thurman’s protagonist The Bride and buries her alive.

Madsen also appeared in Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood. He was an alternate choice to play the hit man role that revived John Travolta’s career in 1994’s Pulp Fiction. The character, Vincent Vega, is the brother of Madsen’s Reservoir Dogs robber in Tarantino’s cinematic universe.

Madsen was born in Chicago to a family of three children. His sister is Oscar-nominated Sideways actor Virginia Madsen, 63.

He performed on stage with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company alongside actors including John Malkovich

His first film role of any significance was in the 1983 hacker thriller WarGames with Matthew Broderick. The following year, he played pro baseball player Bump Bailey alongside Robert Redford in The Natural.