Lance Reddick, a well-known actor who is best known for his role as a police commander in the Baltimore crime drama “The Wire” and later had prominent roles in the “John Wick” series and the “Bosch” series of films. Amazon, passed away on Friday. He was 60.
His death was confirmed by his journalist, Mia Hansen. She did not say where he died or give a cause.
Mr. Reddick achieved some success as a stage actor when, in 1996, he began taking small roles in “New York Undercover”, “The West Wing” and other television series, also like some TV series.
Even then, he often played law enforcement characters, and he would do so when his breakthrough came in 2002: He was cast as Lt. Cedric Daniels, lead head of the investigative unit, on “The Wire,” the HBO series, was praised for its realistic and often upbeat depiction of police, crime, education, and other aspects. other of life in Baltimore.
The series ran for five seasons and is widely considered to have brought a new level of sophistication to police dramas and dramas in general.
“Since ‘The Wire,’” Mr. Reddick told “The IMDB Show” in a video interview, “I have played a lot of scary and talkative power figures.”
In the Fox sci-fi movie “Fringe,” which premiered in 2008, he’s Phillip Broyles, a Homeland Security agent. In the crime drama “Bosch,” which ran from 2014 to 2021, he is a police official. In the movie “White House Down” (2013), about an attack on the White House, he is Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Intensity is not something I try to do,” he told Australia’s The Queensland Times in 2010. “It’s just who I am.”
He got away with executive roles in “John Wick,” the action series starring Keanu Reeves. He plays Charon, a hotel manager, in all four movies, the first of which was released in 2014. The latest one will be released this month.
In all those roles and in others, Mr. Reddick is a distinctive presence, instantly recognizable, even if he is not a household name. His voice is also very distinctive, as players of Horizon Zero Dawn, Destiny 2 and other video games can hear him.
“Range has always been something I strive for,” Mr. Reddick told The Los Angeles Times in 2019. “I never wanted anyone to say, ‘Oh, that’s what he is.’ Although the characters I play, even in all their diversity, tend to be quite intense. But they are all very different people.”
Starting in 2008, he starred in a few episodes of the ABC series “Lost”, playing a character named Matthew Abaddon. The film has a huge following and although the character wasn’t around for long, Mr. Reddick says it enhanced his visibility more than “The Wire”.
“At the time, I was living in New York and it seemed like people were stopping me from talking about ‘Lost,’” he told The Baltimore Sun in 2019. “I went from a minor reputation, in a niche to become completely recognizable.”
Lance Solomon Reddick was born on June 7, 1962 in Baltimore. His mother taught musical instruments, and his father was an educator and later a public defender.
Mr. Reddick attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he studied classical composition. He is a skilled pianist and in 2010 released an album of his own compositions, “Contemplations & Remembrances.”
In the early 1990s, Mr. Reddick was in Boston and discovered acting. He soon enrolled at the Yale School of Drama, where he received his master’s degree. He performed at the Yale Repertory Theater with Liev Schreiber and other future stars.
“When I went to drama school,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 2009, “I knew I was at least as talented as the other students, but because I was black and not pretty, I knew I will do my best to be the best I can be and get noticed.
In 1995, at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York, he appeared in “After play,” Anne Meara’s play is about two couples who come to dinner after going to the theater; Mr. Reddick describes their mysterious waiter. The play had a long run in New York, and in 1997 he reprized the role at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut.
By then, his television work was starting to get noticed, though he hadn’t completely given up on the stage. In 2006, he participated in the New York Signature Theater Company’s revival of “Seven Guitars,” using his musical background to portray a blues musician named Floyd.
“The charisma of Floyd and his anger is all the more impressive given the quietness with which Mr. Reddick displays them,” Ben Brantley wrote in his review in The New York Times.
To prepare for his role in “The Wire,” Mr. Reddick told the Australian newspaper, he made several trips with police officers in the South Bronx.
“They say, ‘This part is okay, that part is bad,’” he said. “What we saw were rows of abandoned houses and drug addicts wandering around. It is almost surreal.”
Mr. Reddick was working on a number of projects upon his death, including a new version of “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.”
He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick; a daughter, Yvonne Nicole Reddick; and one son, Christopher Reddick.
In a 2010 interview with The Miami Herald, Mr. Reddick said the role that particularly stood out to him was one of his smaller roles: a cameo on Law & Order.
“I played an army captain from Sierra Leone in 2001 before doing ‘The Wire,’” he said, “and I had to learn the Sierra Leone accent. To this day, it’s my favorite character, the one I’m most proud of.”
Kwame Opam and McKenna Oxenden contributed reporting.
