Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr., best known for his appearances on popular HBO series “The Wire” and “Veep,” died Tuesday, according to an announcement from his manager Brian Liebman.
He was 71 years old.
“It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr.,” Liebman wrote in a post on Instagram.
“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.”
Whitlock Jr. was also a frequent collaborator with director Spike Lee, appearing in five of his films.
“Today I Learned Of The Passing Of My Dear Beloved Brother ISIAH WHITLOCK. GOD BLESS,” Lee wrote in a post to Instagram on Tuesday evening.
Although his cause of death has not been publicly shared, Liebman told Deadline that the actor died after a short battle with an undisclosed illness.
“He was just a beautiful, beautiful soul,” Lee said.
“If you were around him, he made everybody feel good in his presence. He would radiate. I would put that over his acting.”
Born in South Bend, Ind., Whitlock went to Southwest Minnesota State University, where he played football and studied theater.
He began appearing in small television guest roles on shows including “Cagney and Lacy” in the late 1980s and had small roles in the 1990 films “Goodfellas” and “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” before landing the iconic role of Sen. R. Clayton “Clay” Davis on “The Wire” in the early 2000s.
