Character actor Lance Reddick, best known for his role as Lt. Cedric Daniels on ‘The Wire’, died “suddenly…from natural causes” on Friday, his publicist, Mia Hansen, told the Hollywood Reporter. His body was reportedly found at his Studio City apartment around 9:30am. Reddick was 60 years old.
While Reddick was already an established actor in several television series, including HBO’s ‘Oz’, when he was called to read the script for The Wire, his role on that show as the stern-faced Lt. Cedric Daniels made him a household name, and he was soon offered larger roles in films, including the John Wick franchise.
He appears in the fourth John Wick film, due out later this month, and had several other completed projects in the pipeline, including John Wick spinoff ‘The Ballerina’ and a remake of ‘White Men Can’t Jump’.
Reddick also lent his distinctive voice to video games, voicing ‘Destiny 2’ star Commander Zavala, and serving as both voice and face of Sylens in the Horizon games ‘Zero Dawn’ and ‘Forbidden West’.
Reddick’s co-stars and collaborators paid tribute to the actor on social media. The Wire creator David Simon called him a “consummate professional, a devoted collaborator, a lovely soul and a friend.” His Wire co-star, Wendell Pierce, described him as a “man of great strength and grace. As talented a musician as he was an actor. The epitome of class.”
Reddick leaves behind his wife Stephanie and two children, Yvonne and Christopher.