Hugh Keays-Byrne, known for playing Mad Max: Fury Road’s Immortan Joe,…

Hugh Keays-Byrne. Image from Twitter

Mad Max actor Hugh Keays-Byrne, has died aged 73, reports The Independent.

Keays-Byrne’s representative confirmed to the publication that the actor had a peaceful death on Tuesday morning.

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith, who had collaborated with the actor The Man from Hong Kong (1975), announced the death via a Facebook post on Wednesday.

“Hugh had a generous heart, offering a helping hand to people in need, or a place to stay to a homeless teenager. His life was governed by his sense of the oneness of humanity, we will miss his example and his friendship,” the filmmaker added.

Keays-Byrne was born in 1947 in Kashmir, India, and went on to train under the Royal Shakspeare Company. He eventually settled in Australia, after a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream took him to the continent.

Apart from portraying the role of the villain Toecutter in the 1979 film Mad Max (directed by George Miller), the actor also played the antagonist Immortan Joe in the sequel which featured Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. The film went on to earn multiple Oscar nominations including that of Best Picture.

Writer-director Ted Geoghegan also wrote about the actor’s demise on Twitter.

See the post

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. pic.twitter.com/55W99w3wzq

— Ted Geoghegan (@tedgeoghegan) December 2, 2020

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. pic.twitter.com/5Fyzdj998F — Ted Geoghegan (@tedgeoghegan) December 2, 2020