James McCaffrey Dies: ‘Rescue Me’, ‘Max Payne’ Actor Was 65

Greg Evans
·2 min read
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James McCaffrey, the voice actor of video game character Max Payne and the haunting presence on the hit FX drama Rescue Me, died Sunday of multiple myeloma cancer. He was 65.

His death was confirmed to Deadline by his manager, who noted that the actor passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends.

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Born in Albany, New York, McCaffrey got his breakthrough in a recurring role on the 1991-93 TV legal drama series Civil Wars, and in 1996 was hired by Dick Wolf for the series Swift Justice. McCaffrey would become something of a protege under Wolf, appearing over the years in many of Wolf’s series including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, among others.

McCaffrey trained at the Actor’s Studio and over the course of a 35-year career would be a regular presence on episodic TV, with appearances on Viper, Sex and the City, The Big Easy, Glades, Revenge, White Collar, Madam Secretary, Bull and Suits, among many others.

Perhaps his most memorable came in 2004 with FX’s Rescue Me, in which McCaffrey played Jimmy Keefe, a New York firefighter who lost his life on 9/11 and appears as a ghost to – or a memory of – his cousin, firefighter Tommy Gavin, played by the series star Dennis Leary. McCaffrey’s Jimmy served as a sort of conscience and emotional touchstone for Leary’s troubled, grieving Tommy.

In addition to his on-screen roles, McCaffrey is well known to gamers for his voice work as the title character in the popular Max Payne game franchise, as well as for his voicing of Thomas Zane in the Alan Wake games, among others.

Actor Kevin Dillon posted a tribute on Instagram: “James McCaffrey, we were lucky to have known you. My best friend, you will be missed.”

McCaffrey is survived by wife Rochelle Bostrom and daughter Tiernan McCaffrey.

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A post shared by Kevin Dillon (@kevindillonofficial)

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