Overview

• The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s certificate attributes Madsen’s fatal cardiac arrest to cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, chronic alcoholism and thromboembolic disease.
• No autopsy was performed after his cardiologist signed off on the death certificate, prompting the sheriff’s department to close its investigation as a natural death.
• Official records show the 67-year-old actor was cremated shortly after the certificate was filed in mid-July.
• Despite reportedly maintaining sobriety for several months and undergoing a coronary angiography in May, Madsen’s decade-long struggle with alcohol and progressive heart disease had deeply impaired his health.
• Celebrated for decades in Tarantino films and independent projects, Madsen was preparing new feature films and a poetry collection before his death, and colleagues have paid tribute to his creative legacy.