Credit: Getty Images / Kevin Winter
Virginia Madsen is remembering her late brother and fellow actor, Michael Madsen, who died on Thursday at age 67 from cardiac arrest. The prolific actor was best known for his tough guy roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill series.
Virginia paid homage to her brother in a statement shared with Variety. “My brother Michael has left the stage,” she wrote. “He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother — etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark. We’re not mourning a public figure. We’re not mourning a myth — but flesh and blood and ferocious heart. Who stormed through life loud, brilliant, and half on fire. Who leaves us echoes — gruff, brilliant, unrepeatable — half legend, half lullaby.”
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Virginia concluded, “I’ll miss our inside jokes, the sudden laughter, the sound of him. I’ll miss the boy he was before the legend; I miss my big brother. Thank you to everyone reaching out with love and memory. In time, we’ll share how we plan to celebrate his life — but for now, we stay close, and let the silence say what words can’t.”
Virginia, who is known for her roles in the original 1992 horror film Candyman and 2004 rom-com Sideways, once shared the screen with her brother. The siblings appeared alongside one another as fictionalized versions of themselves in the 2007 mockumentary Being Michael Madsen.
According to his representatives, Madsen was found unresponsive in his Malibu home Thursday morning. Shortly after, Madsen’s managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith and publicist Liz Rodriguez released a joint statement: “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,” they wrote. “Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many.”
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