Isaiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made many memorable appearances on the HBO series. “Wire” And “Vice President” and five films with director Spike Lee died on Tuesday. He was 71 years old.
Whitlock's manager Brian Liebman told The Associated Press in an email that the actor died in New York after a short illness.
Whitlock played the blatantly corrupt state senator Clay Davis in 25 episodes over five seasons of The Wire.
Davis, a fan-favorite character, was known for his foul-mouthed “fu-fu” phrase, which Whitlock would utter in moments of triumph and raw honesty. The actor first used the phrase in his first film with Lee, 2002's The 25th Hour, when his detective character discovers a stash of drugs hidden on a couch.
“It’s a big, big, big loss,” Lee said in a phone call with the AP Tuesday night. “I will miss him for the rest of my life.”
Whitlock then appeared in four other films by Lee, including 2004's “The Hate U Me,” 2012's “Red Hook Summer,” 2015's “Chi-Raq,” 2018's “BlacKkKlansman” and 2020's “Da 5 Bloods.”
“We have been in harmony all these years,” Lee said. “We clicked from the jump.”
Lee said he has particularly fond memories of the extended time he spent with Whitlock filming Da 5 Bloods in Thailand, and he fondly remembers the last time he saw Whitlock – Lee and his daughter Satchel sat with him at a screening of Kiss of the Spider Woman earlier this year.
“He was just a beautiful, beautiful soul,” Lee said. “If you were around him, he made everyone feel good in his presence. He would shine. I would put that above his acting.”
Lee pointed out Whitlock's comic talents both on and off screen.
“He was funny,” Lee said. “That was his nature, he made people laugh. Everyone was in on the joke.”
Whitlock is the second major “The Wire” star to die in recent weeks, following the actor's death. James Ransone.
A native of South Bend, Indiana, Whitlock attended Southwestern Minnesota State University, where he played football and studied theater. Injuries prompted him to study acting, and he moved to San Francisco to work in the theater.
In the late 1980s, he began appearing in small television roles on shows such as Cagney & Lacey, and he also had very small roles in the 1990 films Goodfellas and Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
After The Wire, Whitlock moved on to another HBO show, the political satire Veep, where he played Secretary of Defense George Maddox for three seasons. The character encountered Julia Louis-Dreyfus Selina Meyer in the presidential primaries.
“The Wire” creator David Simon also paid tribute to Whitlock in a post on Bluesky.
“As fine an actor as he was,” Simon said, “Isaiah was an even better spirit and the greatest gentleman.”
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This story has been corrected to show Clay Davis was a state senator, not a city councilman.
