James McCaffrey, Star Of Max Payne, Rescue Me, & Blue Bloods, Dies At 65
Veteran genre TV star and legendary video game voice actor James McCaffrey has passed away at the age of 65 according to a report from TMZ. An Actor’s Studio alumnus with over 30 years of experience on the large and small screens, and more on the live stage, McCaffrey starred in various television procedurals throughout the 1990s.
Fans of the genre from that era will remember him as Joe Astor (aka Michael Payton) on “Viper” and Captain Arthur O’Byrne on “New York Undercover.” From 2004 to 2011, he starred in the FX firefighter series “Rescue Me” as Jimmy Keefe. His other credits include “Blue Bloods,” “Suits,” and “Jessica Jones.” But despite all those impressive roles, McCaffrey is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Max Payne, the noir-talking, self-narrating protagonist of the eponymous video game series from Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Games. In an era when most video game characters lacked actual personalities, McCaffrey imbued the New York detective with charisma and intrigue, contributing significantly to the games’ massive success and influence. He continued to work with Remedy throughout his career, most recently voicing Zachariah Trench in “Control” and Detective Alex Casey in this year’s “Alan Wake 2.”
According to the TMZ report, McCaffrey died of multiple myeloma, a form of plasma cell cancer, on Sunday, December 17. A representative for the late actor told the outlet that he passed away surrounded by loved ones.