We are saddened to report that actor Hugh Keays-Byrne has passed away this week at the age of 73. This underrated legend of Australian cinema is best known for having played both Toecutter (Mad Max 1979) and Immortan Joe (Mad Max: Fury Road 2015) in director George Miller’s iconic Mad Max films.
Hugh Keays-Byrne was born in Kashmir, India, in 1947 and relocated to Australia while in his twenties where he had a storied film career. Keays-Byrne worked steadily throughout the 1970s and 1980s before making the transition to mostly television work in the 1990s and beyond. Outside of the Mad Max films, Hugh Keays-Byrne was known for roles in films like The Trespassers, The Death Train, and Lorca and the Outlaws, as well as an ongoing role as Grunchlk on the science fiction television series Farscape.
Keays-Byrne was also briefly cast in the role of Martian Manhunter in George Miller’s ill-fated DC Comics adaptation Justice League: Immortal. Sadly, the film never made it to production before being canceled in the late 2000s, thus robbing Keays-Byrne of what could have become his most iconic role as the shapeshifting green martian superhero.
Unfortunately his turn as Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road looks to be his final film appearance. The role earned him a number of award nominations, including “Best Actor In A Supporting Role” at the Australian Film Critics Association Awards and “Best Villain” at the MTV Awards. Keays-Byrne was also nominated for an award by the Australian Film Institute back in 1979 for his supporting role as Toecutter in the original Mad Max film.
Information on what caused Hugh Keays-Byrne’s death has not been released at this time. He will be greatly missed.
Rest In Peace Hugh Keays-Byrne
1947-2020
May He Ride Eternal, Shiny and Chrome.Â
Source: BloodyDisgusting
