LOS ANGELES – Actor Lance Reddick, who played steely Baltimore police lieutenant Cedric Daniels in the hit TV show The Wire, has died, his publicist said on Friday. He was 60.
Reddick, who also appeared in the John Wick series of films opposite Keanu Reeves, was found dead at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles, trade title TMZ reported.
“Acclaimed actor Lance Reddick passed away suddenly this morning from natural causes,” publicist Mia Hansen told AFP.
“Lance will be greatly missed.”
Reddick rose to prominence in 2000 on the HBO prison drama Oz, in which he played an undercover detective battling the drugs trade, but who soon gets drawn into addiction.
But it was for his role on The Wire that he became best known.
The HBO show, which ran from 2002 to 2008, followed a narcotics division pitting their wits against the city’s powerful drug gangs.
With its complex writing and gritty casting, The Wire is often cited as one of the best television shows around.
It made household names of several of its stars, including Dominic West, Idris Elba, Wendell Pierce, Michael B. Jordan and the late Michael Kenneth Williams, who delivered one of the most singular performances in recent screen history as Omar Little.
After The Wire, Reddick was cast in John Wick as Charon, a concierge at a New York hotel who worked alongside Reeves’ hitman.
Reddick is survived by his wife Stephanie Reddick, and children Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick, his publicist said. AFP
