Hugh Keays-Byrne, Immortan Joe In Mad Max: Fury Road, Dies At 73

Hugh Keays-Byrne, the actor modern fans best remember as “Immortan Joe” in Mad Max: Fury Road has died at the age of 73. Keays-Byrne was a beloved Australian character actor and director, who also played the role of Toecutter in the original Mad Max movie. Byrne’s collaboration with Mad Max franchise director George Miller also included the actor being cast in Miller’s infamous Justice League: Mortal movie as Martian Manhunter, though that project ultimately stalled while in the development stages. All the same, Hugh Keays-Byrne leaves behind a legacy of notable film and TV roles alongside the aforementioned Mad Max and Justice League projects and will be sorely missed.

Filmmaker Ted Geoghegan (We Are Still Here) shared news of Hugh Keays-Byrne’s passing with fans:

Hugh Keays-Byrne, an unsung hero of Aussie cinema, has passed away at age 73. I’m continually floored that he played Toecutter, the central antagonist of 1979’s MAD MAX *and* Immortan Joe, the central antagonist 2015’s MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Thanks for all the entertainment, sir.

By all accounts, Hugh Keays-Byrne, who trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, was an absolutely wonderful human who fought very hard for environmental and humanitarian issues. This photo of him from earlier this year says it all. You will ride eternal, shiny and chrome.

Hugh Keays-Byrne was born in Srinagar in British-controlled India, in 1947, before moving to Britain as a young boy. He gravitated toward stage acting and was performing in the Royal Shakespeare Company by 1968, and remained with the company until 1972. In that same time, Keays-Byrne also booked several TV acting jobs, starting with Boy Meets Girl in 1967. The Royal Shakespeare Company took him to Australia 1973 to perform in Peter Brook’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – a trip that led to Keays-Byrne relocating to Australia permanently.

While in Australia during the 1970s, Hugh Keays-Byrne made the jump from the TV screen to movies. He starred in the low-budget Australian biker film Stone in 1974, followed by steady film roles through the late ’70s, culminating with his role as the villain “Toecutter” in George Miller’s Mad Max in 1979. Keays-Byrne would continue doing character actor work in Australian and American genre films through the 1980s and ’90s, before appearing in the Farscape franchise in the 2000s.

As mentioned, Keays-Byrne’s career got a late and unexpected resurgence in the late 2000s, when George Miller came back and tapped him to star as Martian Manhunter in Justice League: Mortal. Though that film fell apart, Miller brought Keays-Byrne with him back to the Mad Max franchise, to star as villain Immortan Joe in Miller’s 2015 reboot, Mad Max: Fury Road. The novelty of seeing “Toecutter” back in the franchise helped Hugh Keays-Byrne enjoy some of the biggest acclaim of his career. Fans were wondering if Keays-Byrne might appear again as Immortan Joe in the Fury Road prequel Mad Max: Furiosa, which is now moving forward with Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit), Chris Hemsworth, and George Miller returning to direct.

R.I.P. Hugh Keays-Byrne. We offer condolences to his family and friends in this time of mourning.