The Wire Star Lance Reddick Dies at 60

Death of a Prolific Actor

Lance Reddick, a prolific actor who gained fame playing a police commander on the Baltimore crime drama “The Wire” and later had prominent roles in the “John Wick” movie franchise and the Amazon series “Bosch,” died on Friday. He was 60.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Mia Hansen. No cause was given.

From Small Roles to Success

Mr. Reddick was having some success as a stage actor when, in 1996, he began landing small roles on “New York Undercover,” “The West Wing” and other television series, as well as some TV movies. Even then he was often playing law enforcement figures, and he would be doing so when his breakthrough came in 2002: He was cast as Lt. Cedric Daniels, the principled head of the investigation unit, on “The Wire,” the sprawling HBO series that was praised for its realistic and often downbeat depiction of policing, crime, education and other aspects of life in Baltimore.

Wide Range of Roles

The series ran for five seasons and is widely regarded as having brought a new level of sophistication to police dramas and television in general.

“Ever since ‘The Wire,’” he told “The IMDB Show” in a video interview, “I’ve played a lot of intimidating authority figures that talk a lot.” On the Fox sci-fi drama “Fringe,” which made its debut in 2008, he was Phillip Broyles, a Homeland Security agent. In the crime drama “Bosch,” which ran from 2014 to 2021, he was a police official. In the movie “White House Down” (2013), about an assault on the White House, he was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He got away from the law enforcement roles in the “John Wick” movies, the action franchise that stars Keanu Reeves in the title role. He played Charon, a hotel manager, appearing in all four films, the first of which was released in 2014. The latest is being released this month.

A Distinctive Presence

In all of those roles and others, Mr. Reddick was a distinctive, instantly recognizable presence, even if he was not quote a household name. His voice, too, was distinctive, as players of Horizon Zero Dawn, Destiny 2 and other video games know.

“Range is always what I’m striving for,” Mr. Reddick told The Los Angeles Times in 2019. “I never want anybody to say ‘Oh, this is who he is.’ Although the characters I play, even in all their diversity, tend to be fairly intense. But they’re all very different guys.”

Early Life and Music Career

Mr. Reddick was born in Baltimore. His mother taught instrumental music, and his father was an educator and later a public defender.

Mr. Reddick attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he studied classical composition. He was a skilled pianist and in 2010 released an album of his own works, “Contemplations & Remembrances.”

By the early 1990s Mr. Reddick was in Boston and exploring acting, and soon he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama for a master’s degree, appearing at Yale Repertory Theater with Liev Schreiber and other future stars.

Survivors

He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick; a daughter, Yvonne Nicole Reddick; and a son, Christopher Reddick. Kwame Opam and McKenna Oxenden contributed reporting.

A full obituary will appear soon.

Credit: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/us/lance-reddick-dead.html

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