Hugh Keays-Byrne dies, unforgettable villain in two “Mad Max” movies – News

Hugh Keays-Byrne died Tuesday morning (1), his art representative informed. He was 73 years old. The causes were not disclosed.

The British-born Australian actor (born in India in 1947, when he was still part of the British Empire) has worked in theatrical productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company and on television, but is immortalized in cinema as the big villain in two of the Max Mad saga “.

In “The Bikes of Death” (1979), he was Toecutter, one of the leaders of the motorcycle gang chased by Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson).

Decades later, the same director, George Miller, called him “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015) and another villain, Immortan Joe, the tyrant of the Citadel, who embarked on a merciless pursuit of the rebels led by Empress Furious (Charlize Theron) and Mad Max (Tom Hardy) after stealing his five breeding wives.

The six Academy Award-winning film was his latest feature film.

Actors Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult (Nux) paid tribute on social media.

“It’s amazing that you managed to play an evil villain warlord so well because you were such a kind and beautiful soul. We will miss you very much, my friend.”

“I feel so lucky to have shared time with you. It is special to learn from such a wonderful and kind person and an immensely talented actor.”

Other works in Hugh Keays-Byrne’s career, some of them cult in Australia, were the series “Rush” (1974) and the films “Stone” (1974, by Sandy Harbutt), which also included other actors from the first “Mad Max “and is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino; “The Hong Kong Man” (1975); “Mad Dog Morgan” (1976); “The Trespassers” (1976); “Snapshot” (1979); “Danger … Chain Reaction” (1980); “Strikebound” (1984); “Starship” (1984); and “Gladiators of the 23rd Century” (1989).

He recently joined the “Farscape” series (1999-2003) and the “Moby Dick” (1998) miniseries, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1999) and “Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars” (2004).