- Duress died in November 2023, his brother Christopher Stathis told People on Tuesday
- The actor is best known for his roles in “Good Times” and “Heaven Knows What”.
- He is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and his younger brother Christopher
“Good Times and Heaven Knows What” actor Buddy Duress has died at the age of 38.
Duress, who starred in “Good Times” alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson, died in November 2023 from complications of “cardiac arrest caused by a cocktail of drugs,” his brother Christopher Stathis told People.
He is survived by his mother Jo-Anne and his younger brother Christopher.
Buddy was born Michael C. Stathis in May 1985 in Queens, New York.
He made his acting debut in Josh and Benny Safdie's 2014 film Heaven Knows What.
“Good Times and Heaven Knows What” actor Buddy Duress has died at age 38; Seen in 2017
He later teamed up with the Safdie brothers again in the 2017 film Good Time, in which he played a drug dealer who teams up with Pattinson's character.
He also appeared in several other film projects including Person to Person, Funny Pages and Beware of Dog.
He has two more projects planned for release later this year, according to his IMDb page: Skull and Mass State Lottery.
In a 2017 interview with SSense, Duress shared that he met Josh through a mutual friend in 2013 after he was released from Rikers Island in New York City on drug charges.
At the time, Duress was on the run after quitting residential drug treatment.
He got the role in Heaven Knows What, but was later caught by police and returned to Rikers Island after the film was completed.
When the film premiered at the New York Film Festival in 2014, he was still in prison.
“You know, I still look back on it. If I had taken that program, I wouldn't have been involved in God knows what, and I probably wouldn't be an actor now. That's the honest truth. I wouldn’t do that,” he told the publication.
Duress, who starred in “Good Times” alongside Twilight star Robert Pattinson (left), died in November 2023 of “cardiac arrest caused by a drug cocktail,” his brother Christopher Stathis told People
After his release, filmmakers asked him to write a diary about his time in prison and later incorporate it into their screenplay for “Good Time,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
In 2019, he was arrested for third-degree grand larceny and returned to Rikers, according to the New York Post.
He was also arrested for threatening to burn down his mother Jo-Anne's house while filming the crime drama Flinch that same year.
He was released on bail by director Cameron Van Hoy and his mother, but was later arrested and taken back to Rikers, where he was charged with menacing and criminal possession of brass knuckles and a controlled substance, the New York Post reported at the time.