Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen, star of Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Donnie Brasco, dies aged 67

The actor, best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, was found unresponsive in Los Angeles

Catherine Shoard

3 July 2025

The actor Michael Madsen has died aged 67 at his home in Malibu, according to authorities and his representatives. No foul play is suspected, the sheriff’s department confirmed, after deputies responded to the Los Angeles county home following a call to the emergency services on Thursday morning.

Michael Madsen’s brooding charisma needed Tarantino to unlock

 

Michael Madsen

Michael Madsen’s brooding charisma needed Tarantino to unlock it

The Reservoir Dogs and Donnie Brasco actor had a rare, sometimes scary power, as well as a winning self-awareness and levity

Peter Bradshaw

Thu 3 Jul 2025 22.43 

Until 1992, when people heard Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel on the radio, they might smile and nod and sing along to its catchy soft-rock tune and goofy Dylan-esque lyrics. But after 1992, with the release of Quentin Tarantino’s sensationally tense and violent crime movie Reservoir Dogs, the feelgood mood around that song forever darkened. That was down to an unforgettably scary performance by Michael Madsen, who has died at the age of 67.

 

Reservoir Dogs actor Michael Madsen arrested on domestic violence charge

Kill Bill star arrested for domestic battery in Malibu after ‘a disagreement’ with his wife

Sian Cain and agencies

Tue 20 Aug 2024 01.26 BST

Michael Madsen has been arrested on a domestic battery charge following “a disagreement” with his wife.

‘Maybe I was just born in the wrong era’: Michael Madsen on Tarantino, tough guys and typecasting

This article is more than 21 years old

He has more than 100 screen credits and has had rave reviews for his poetry... yet he is still best known as the psychotic lobe-lopper from Reservoir Dogs. Sanjiv Bhattacharya talks to Michael Madsen about his two dogs, his three wives, his five sons and how Quentin Tarantino (who else?) is set to breathe life into his brilliant career

Sanjiv Bhattacharya

Sun 18 Apr 2004 

Afortnight before the American release of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol 2, its star, Michael Madsen, sits on the upper deck of his Malibu beach home, smoking Chesterfields and watching the dolphins. There are four in the distance, jumping happy arcs through the waves. This morning, though, they’re the only ones leaping for joy.