{"id":222225,"date":"2026-01-01T20:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222225\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:10:08","slug":"the-wire-actor-isiah-whitlock-jr-dies-aged-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/222225\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wire actor Isiah Whitlock Jr dies aged 71"},"content":{"rendered":"

Director Spike Lee has remembered The Wire actor Isiah Whitlock Jr as his “dear beloved brother” after his death aged 71.<\/p>\n

The actor appeared in five films with the US director, including the Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman<\/a>, as well as 25th Hour, She Hate Me, Red Hook Summer, Chi-Raq and most recently, 2020’s Da 5 Bloods.<\/p>\n

Whitlock Jr\u2019s last film was the Irish production The Body is Wate<\/a>r, which was filmed in West Cork last summer and is due for release later this year.<\/p>\n

\"Isiah
\nSaoirse Monica Jackson and Isiah Whitlock Jr pictured on the set of The Body is Water<\/p>\n

He was in the lead cast alongside Saoirse Monica Jackson, Stephen Rea, Eva Birthistle, Allen Leech, Aidan Quinn, Fionnula Flanagan and Maria Doyle Kennedy.<\/p>\n

He also starred in 2023\u2019s Cocaine Bear<\/a>, which was also filmed in Ireland.<\/p>\n

Whitlock played the openly corrupt state senator Clay Davis across all five seasons of The Wire and was known for his profane catchphrase “sheee-it”.<\/p>\n

\"Isiah
\nIsiah Whitlock Jr in The Body is Water<\/p>\n

The actor first used the phrase in his first film with Lee, 2002\u2019s The 25th Hour, when his character discovered a haul of drugs hidden in a sofa, and brought it with him to the acclaimed TV series about all aspects of life in Baltimore, including the police force, the drug dealers, the schools and a newspaper.<\/p>\n

The Wire creator David Simon paid tribute to Whitlock, writing on Bluesky: “As fine an actor as he was, Isiah was an even better spirit and the greatest gentleman.”<\/p>\n

Whitlock also starred in the political satire series Veep, as secretary of defence George Maddox, who ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus\u2019s character Selina Meyer in the presidential primaries.<\/p>\n

\"Isiah
\nThe Body is Water<\/p>\n

Irish film maker John Norton, who worked with Whitlock Jr on The Body is Water, said, “He touched so many people he worked with in Ireland and he was a wonderfully kind gentleman to everyone he met and interacted with.”<\/p>\n

Whitlock Jr\u2019s manager Brian Liebman confirmed the news of his death on Instagram, writing: “It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr.<\/p>\n

“If you knew him – you loved him. A brilliant actor and even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be very, very missed.”<\/p>\n

Source: Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Director Spike Lee has remembered The Wire actor Isiah Whitlock Jr as his “dear beloved brother” after his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-222225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}