Hanke had dozens of on-screen credits, but is best known as a major antagonist in “Orange is the New Black.”
WASHINGTON — Former NFL player and TV actor Brad William Hanke died on Tuesday, his agent confirmed to multiple media outlets. He was 56 years old.
Hankey “died peacefully in his sleep” Her agent Sherry Cohen told E! News
No cause of Henke’s death was provided.
Born in Nebraska, Hanke played football for the University of Arizona before signing with the Giants and then being cut by the team. He then signed with the Denver Broncos as a defensive end in 1989.
He played in the 1990 Super Bowl, but retired from the NFL in 1994 due to injuries.
After leaving professional football, Hanke found a new career on screen, appearing in dramas such as “Lost,” “Dexter,” “ER,” “Justified,” “October Road” and “Law & Order.” .
Her most famous role was that of corrections officer Desi Piscatella in the Netflix original series “Orange is the New Black.” He starred as the main antagonist in seasons four and five of the drama-comedy series Hanke, and the rest of the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2016.
Most recently, he starred in the post-apocalyptic miniseries “The Stand.”
In a 2021 interview with HorrorGeekLife, Henke reflected on the duality of his career.Saying that his first profession prepared him for the second.
“Football helped me learn how to be disciplined, how to take criticism, always try your best, so you can definitely use some of the same things,” he said. It was a huge help to me when I started acting.”