Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | November 11, 2026
Legendary stage and screen actor Stacy Keach passed away on Monday at the age of 85. Given his extensive career that extended over half a century, his impact on the industry was immense. To that end, there is no shortage of roles he’s played over the years that could be pointed to as someone’s favorite or the actor’s best. But I’m 37 years old. I came of age when Keach had already been established as a gruff leading man, thanks to characters like Mike Hammer. I first saw him in a show called Titus.
Titus was a sitcom based on the comedy of comedian Christopher Titus. It explored his chaotic family dynamics, proving to be more off-center than a traditional sitcom. Characters were far more flawed than would usually be the case in such shows, and that felt incredibly refreshing to a young me (and still does now). The people involved felt more true to life based on what I had experienced, and that especially included Titus’s hard-drinking, always-smoking, philandering father, played with aplomb by Keach.
It’s not that anyone in my family was that bad. It’s just that everything presented in the show felt more honest. And Keach managed to take a character that should be hated and made him a highlight of the program. He was funny as hell, charismatic, and stole almost every scene that he was in. The part could have easily not been as effective in anyone else’s hands, but Keach elevated him beyond the material in a way that still holds up.
I’ve revisited the show a bit since its cancellation back in 2002, including a reunion episode filmed and released in 2020, and there are elements of it that hold up incredibly well. There are certainly things that have aged like milk, thanks to both sitcom tropes and comedy aging worse than most things, but overall, there is a lot of brilliance there. A lot of it stems from Titus’s honest look at his family, but much of it also comes from Keach’s performance.
When I learned of Stacy Keach’s passing last night, Titus was the first thing I reached for. You can watch it all on Titus’s YouTube channel, which I will link to below. I don’t think the show is for everyone, but it’s a fantastic way to remember an actor who gave his all no matter if it was a guest spot or a leading role. Keach had an incredible career and immense talent, and you can see it all on display with every line he utters and every punchline he hits.
