Veteran actor James McCaffrey, who played Jimmy Keefe on the FX firefighter drama “Rescue Me,” died Sunday. He was 65.
The cause was multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. He was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death, according to Deadline.
In “Rescue Me,” which aired from 2004 to 2011, he played a New York firefighter who lost his life on 9/11 and appears as a ghostly memory to his grieving cousin Tommy Gavin (series star Denis Leary), also a firefighter.
In 2020, he told Saratoga Living that the character was his favorite he ever played.
“Just because he was a ghost and he died in the World Trade Center on September 11,” McCaffrey said.
“A friend who grew up two houses away from us when we were in high school and his brother were in the towers, and one brother got out and the other did not. I had a couple good acquaintances who were in the fire department — a famous New York City firefighter named [Patrick] ‘Paddy’ Brown. I had known him for a few years, and he died,” McCaffrey said. “I go down there every September 11th with another buddy of mine, an actor who lost his best friend in the South Tower.”
McCaffrey, who was born in Albany, New York, also voiced Max Payne in the popular video-game series.
“I’m not a big fan of video games, and I never have been,” he told the outlet. “The first time I did Max Payne, it was, like, six hours a day in a sound booth, and it was about 400 pages of script. But, I’ve never seen it, I’ve never played it, I have no desire to. I lack the proper appreciation for video games.”
McCaffrey’s versatility as an actor won him roles in many TV series over the years including “Suits,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Jessica Jones,” “Blue Bloods,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “White Collar” and “As the World Turns.”
His movie roles included “The Truth About Cats & Dogs,” “American Splendor” and “She Hate Me.”
He also voiced the character of Thomas Zane in the Alan Wake video games and voiced the video games Area 51 and Alone in the Dark.
McCaffrey is survived by his wife, Rochelle Boström, and their daughter, Tiernan McCaffrey.
