Virginia Madsen is remembering her big brother Michael for his legacy off the screen following the actor’s death on Thursday at the age of 67.
“My brother Michael has left the stage,” the Oscar-nominated “Sideways” actress said in a statement to Variety. “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.”
Virginia further described her brother as “half legend, half lullaby,” storming through life “loud, brilliant and half on fire.”
“I’ll miss our inside jokes, the sudden laughter, the sound of him,” she concluded. “I’ll miss the boy he was before the legend; I miss my big brother.”
Michael Madsen had nearly 350 screen credits to his name, but was best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, including “Reservoir Dogs,” “The Hateful Eight” and both volumes of “Kill Bill.”
According to IMDb, he had 17 projects in progress at the time of his death, including “Saturday at the Starlight,” a comedy set at a roller rink in the 1990s co-starring Abigail Breslin and Denise Richards.
In addition to his work onscreen, Madsen had a line of hot sauce called American Badass and was also an accomplished poet. According to his representative, he was preparing to release a new book titled “Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems,” which is currently being edited.
The “Donnie Brasco” star was found unresponsive early Thursday at his home in Malibu, Calif., with his manager telling NBC Los Angeles that he died from cardiac arrest.
He’s survived by six children, including Christian and Max Madsen, who are both actors. He was predeceased by his son Hudson, who died by suicide in 2022.
