‘The Wire’ and ‘Veep’ actor was 71
Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor best known for his role as corrupt Senator Clay Davis in “The Wire,” died Tuesday in New York. Variety has confirmed. He was 71.
His manager, Brian Liebman, shared the news on Instagramwriting: “It is with immense sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr. If you knew him, you loved him. A brilliant actor and an even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be dearly missed.”
The Indiana native Whitlock was a prolific character actor who frequently collaborated with Spike Lee, appearing in his films “BlacKkKlansman,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “She Hate Me,” “25th Hour,” “Red Hook Summer” and “Chi-Raq.”
For many of his projects he developed the slogan ‘heeeee-it,” an elongated pronunciation of the word “shit.” It started in “She Hate Me” and “25th Hour,” and then the writers of “The Wire” started working it into the HBO series. Whitlock said he could be stopped on the street two or three times a day by fans asking him to say the slogan. In a meta turn, Whitlock got to play a man obsessed with “The Wire” in the 2011 comedy “Cedar Rapids.”
Whitlock also played a doctor in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’ and had roles in ‘Chappelle’s Show’, ‘Pieces of April’, ‘Enchanted’ and Pixar’s ‘Cars 3’ and ‘Lightyear’. He also lent his voice to “Hoppers,” Pixar’s animated sci-fi comedy set for release in 2026.
In seasons 2 through 4 of “Veep,” Whitlock played George Maddox, the U.S. Secretary of Defense who is running against Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character Selina Meyer in the 2016 primaries.
