A relative confirmed to TMZ that Hibbert suffered a fatal heart attack in Denver on Monday. Following the unexpected loss, his children—Ronnie, Rosalind and Greg—shared a touching message honoring their father’s life and legacy.
“Our father, Stephen Hibbert, passed away unexpectedly this week,” they said in a statement. “His life was filled with love, creativity and dedication to both his family and the arts. He will be deeply missed by many.”
Hibbert was born in Fleetwood, England, and began building his career in the entertainment industry during the 1980s. He first gained recognition as a television writer, contributing to the popular late-night program Late Night with David Letterman. In the following decade, he expanded his writing work to include several animated children’s series and scripted projects for shows such as MADtv and Boy Meets World.
He also wrote the 1994 comedy It’s Pat: The Movie, starring Julia Sweeney, a former cast member of Saturday Night Live. Alongside his writing career, Hibbert occasionally appeared on screen, including a small role as a prison guard in the comedy sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
However, it was his brief but unforgettable appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic Pulp Fiction that cemented his place in pop-culture history. In the film’s notorious pawn shop basement scene, the shop owner commands his accomplice to “bring out the Gimp.” Hibbert’s character then emerges from a locked box, dressed in a black leather bondage suit complete with a zippered mask and leash.
The silent figure is tasked with guarding boxer Butch Coolidge, played by Bruce Willis, while crime boss Marsellus Wallace—portrayed by Ving Rhames—is dragged into another room. When Butch manages to break free, The Gimp attempts to raise the alarm but is quickly knocked unconscious with a single punch. The unsettling sequence remains one of the film’s most shocking and widely discussed moments.
Hibbert later appeared briefly in The Cat in the Hat before gradually stepping back from Hollywood. In recent years, he remained active in the arts scene in Denver, where he taught improvisation at the Chaos Bloom Theater.
His passing comes only months after the death of his fellow Pulp Fiction castmate Peter Greene, who died in December at age 60. Authorities later ruled that Greene died from an accidental gunshot wound, according to the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Greene had portrayed the ruthless pawn shop guard Zed in the same infamous basement sequence alongside Hibbert’s Gimp—making the loss of both actors connected to one of the film’s most unforgettable scenes especially poignant.
