Virginia Madsen is mourning the tragic death of her elder brother and fellow actor, Michael Madsen, who was discovered dead on July 3 at the age of 67.
“My brother Michael has left the stage,” Virginia said in a statement sent to Variety. “He embodied thunder and velvet. He was a person who embodied both mischief and kindness. A poet posing 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,” the 63-year-old Sideways Oscar nominee explained. “We are not grieving a fiction, but rather flesh, blood, and a violent heart. He blazed through life, shouting, bright, and sometimes on fire. Who leaves us with echoes that are rough, dazzling, and unrepeatable—part tale, half lullaby.”
Virginia said, “I will miss our inner jokes, the unexpected laughter, and the sound of him. I’ll miss the youngster he was before the legend; I miss my older brother. Thank you to everyone who reached out with love and memories. We’ll reveal how we want to commemorate his life later, but for the time being, we’ll stay close and let quiet speak for itself.”
NBC4 Los Angeles and a local sheriff’s department reported that Michael’s death appeared to be natural, with no suspicion of foul play. According to the site, Los Angeles County deputies responded to a 911 call from the Reservoir Dog actor’s Malibu house. “What we understand is Michael had a cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive in his Malibu home earlier this morning,” Madsen’s manager Ron Smith told PEOPLE.
Virginia and Michael, who share a sister named Cheryl, began performing on stage in Chicago, where they were born and reared. The two siblings, who had previously supported each other at the premieres of their respective movie projects, featured together in director Michael Mongillo’s 2007 mockumentary Being Michael Madsen, playing fictitious versions of themselves.
“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,” the actor’s managers Smith and Susan Ferris, plus publicist Liz Rodriguez, said in a statement. “Michael was also preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts and Poems, currently being edited.”
Michael was formerly married to Georganne LaPiere, Jeanine Bisignano, and DeAnna Madsen. He has Calvin, Luke, and Hudson with DeAnna, and Christian and Max with Bisignano.