Max Julien
Max Julien has died aged 88 (Picture: Getty)

Max Julien, famed for playing Goldie in the blaxploitation film The Mack, has died aged 88.

According to reports, his wife Arabella found him on New Year’s Day. His cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

‘During Julien’s decades-long career, he was known for being bold, honest and straightforward,’ said his PR team in a statement.

‘He would live and speak his own truth both professionally and privately. He was thought of as a rare “man among men.”‘

Many fans have paid tribute to the late star on social media, with one writing on Twitter: ‘I met Max back in 1996. He was a great human being, and we had so many amazing conversations. He was brilliant and hilarious and charismatic… R.I.P.’

‘RIP to Max Julien.. part of an era in film that will live forever,’ another penned.

Richard Pryor and Max Julien in The Mack
Julien played Goldie in The Mack (Picture: Cinerama Releasing)

Besides starring in The Mack, Julien also appeared in Def Jam’s How to Be a Player and guest-starred on TV shows such as The Mod Squad, The Bold Ones: The Protectors, and One on One.

He began his career on the stage on New York City’s Off-Broadway circuit including roles in Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare-In-The-Park.

Lobby card from the movie 'Thomasine and Bushrod' (Columbia Pictures), Gordon Parks Jr's western starring Max Julien and Vonetta McGee, Texas, 1974. (Photo by John D. Kisch/Separate Cinema Archive/Getty Images)
He also starred in the 1974 film Thomasine and Bushrod (Picture: Getty)

In Hollywood, he landed co-starring roles with Jack Nicholson in Psych-Out and Candice Bergen in Columbia’s box-office hit film Getting Straight.

While spending time in Rome, Italy, he wrote and directed a documentary called Trestevre, then wrote the screenplay for, and subsequently co-produced, Warner Brothers’s blaxploitation classic Cleopatra Jones.

Cleopatra Jones starred actress Tamara Dobson in the title role as a narcotics agent who was as skilled in martial arts as she was with firearms.