Buddy Duress, the actor who rose to fame for his roles in the Safdie brothers’ films ‘Good Time’ and ‘Heaven Knows What’, has passed away. He was 38 years old.
According to his brother Christopher Stathis who spoke to PEOPLE, Duress died of “cardiac arrest from a drug cocktail” in November 2023, but his death was only confirmed to the public last week by filmmaker Jay Karales through social media.
Buddy Duress, whose real name was Michael C. Stathis, was born in Queens, New York, in May 1985. He was said to have lived a troubled life, involving drug addiction and prison time, which he later channeled into his acting career.
He made his screen debut in 2014’s ‘Heaven Knows What’, a gritty drama based on the real-life experiences of his friend and co-star Arielle Holmes, who was a homeless heroin addict. Duress played as her friend Mike, who worked as a drug dealer.
He had crossed paths with the film’s directors, Josh and Benny Safdie, after evading a drug rehabilitation program. He was later caught by the authorities shortly after filming, and didn’t even make it to the movie’s premiere.
Years later, he is called back to star in the Safdie brothers’ 2017 crime thriller, ‘Good Time’. The film starred Robert Pattinson (Twilight) as a mediocre bank robber who tries to free his mentally disabled brother from custody. Duress took on the role of the drug dealer Ray, who teams up with Pattinson’s character for a wild night.
He also appeared in several other independent films, such as ‘Person to Person’ (2017), ‘The Great Darkened Days’ (2018), ‘Beware of Dog’ (2020), ‘PVT Chat’ (2021), ‘Flinch’ (2021) and ‘Funny Pages’ (2022). He had a project in the works: a feature film called ‘Mass State Lottery’, which is expected to be released later this year.
Buddy Duress is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and his brother Christopher.