Hugh Keays-Byrne (May 18, 1947 – December 2, 2020) was an Anglo-Australian actor and director. He moved to Australia in 1973 and worked there as a television and film actor. He is best remembered as the main antagonist Toecutter in George Miller‘s Mad Max (1979), with Mel Gibson; and Immortan Joe in Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
Other notable roles include Stone (1974), Mad Dog Morgan (1976), with Dennis Hopper; Werner Herzog‘s Where Ants Go to Dream (1984), with Bruce Spence (who was in the Mad Max films The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome); For Love Alone (1986), with Helen Buday, Hugo Weaving and Sam Neill; Kangaroo (1987), with Colin Friels, Judy Davis, and John Walton; The Blood of Heroes (1989), with Rutger Hauer, Joan Chen, and Vincent D’Onofrio; and Sleeping Beauty (2011), with Emily Browning.
TV roles include the TV movies Polly My Love (1975), with Jackie Weaver; Barnaby and Me (1979), with Sid Caesar and Juliet Mills; Badlands 2005 (1988), with Lewis Smith, Miguel Ferrer, and Sharon Stone; Dadah Is Death (1988), with Julie Christie, Weaving, and Sarah Jessica Parker; Mr. Stubbs in the miniseries Moby Dick (1998), with Patrick Stewart, Henry Thomas, Gregory Peck, and Ted Levine; Grunchlk on the science fiction television series Farscape (1999-2001) and the miniseries followup Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004).
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Stone (1974) – directed by Sandy Harbutt
- Essington (1974) – directed by Julian Pringle – TV movie
- The Man from Hong Kong (1975) – directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith – aka The Dragon Files
- Polly My Love (1975) – directed by Peter Maxwell – TV movie
- Mad Dog Morgan (1976) – directed by Philippe Mora
- The Trespassers (1976) – directed by John Duigan
- The Cake Man (1977) – directed by Douglas Sharp – TV movie
- The Tree (1977) – directed by Ian Stocks – short
- Say You Want Me (1977) – directed by Oliver Howes – TV movie
- The Death Train (1978) – directed by Igor Auzins – TV movie
- The Tichborne Affair (1978) – directed by Carl Schultz – TV movie
- Blue Fin (1978) – directed by Carl Schultz
- Mad Max (1979) – directed by George Miller
- Snapshot (1979) – directed by Simon Wincer – aka The Day After Halloween and One More Minute
- Barnaby and Me (1979) – directed by Norman Panama – TV movie
- The Chain Reaction (1980) – directed by Ian Barry
- Ginger Meggs (1982) – directed by Jonathan Dawson
- Runaway Island (1982) – directed by Igor Auzins – TV movie
- Going Down (1983) – directed by Haydn Keenan
- Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) – directed by Werner Herzog
- Strikebound (1984) – directed by Richard Lowenstein
- Lorca and the Outlaws (1984) – directed by Roger Christian aka Starship and 2084
- Burke & Wills (1985) – directed by Graeme Clifford,
- For Love Alone (1986) – directed by Stephen Wallace
- Kangaroo (1987) – directed by Tim Burstall
- Treasure Island (1987) – directed by Warwick Gilbert – TV movie
- Les Patterson Saves the World (1987) – directed by George T. Miller
- Badlands 2005 (1988) – directed by George T. Miller – TV movie
- Dadah Is Death (1988) – directed by Jerry London – TV movie
- The Blood of Heroes (1989) – directed by David Webb Peoples – aka The Salute of the Juggers
- Resistance (1992) – also co-directed with Paul Elliott
- Asian Connection: Old Flames (1995) – directed by Michael Carson – TV movie
- Moby Dick (1998) – directed by Franc Roddam – miniseries
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999) – directed by George T. Miller – miniseries
- Huntsman 5.1 (1999) – directed by Brent Houghton
- Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004) – directed by Brian Henson – miniseries
- Sleeping Beauty (2011) – directed by Julia Leigh
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)* – directed by George Miller