Isiah Whitlock Jr., ‘The Wire’ Actor and Longtime Spike Lee Collaborator, Dies at 71
Isiah Whitlock Jr., the veteran character actor who appeared in “The Wire,” “Veep” and multiple Spike Lee films, died Tuesday in New York, according to his manager Brian Liebman. He was 71.
Whitlock worked with Lee on six joints: “BlacKkKlansman,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “She Hate Me,” “25th Hour,” “Red Hook Summer” and “Chi-Raq.”
On HBO and David Simon’s “The Wire,” he starred across 25 episodes as State Senator R. Clayton ‘Clay’ Davis.
“It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr. 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,” Liebman said in a statement.
On “The Wire,” Whitlock’s character became known for his elongated pronunciation of “s–t” as “sheeeeee-it,” a catchphrase that started in Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me” and “25th Hour” before “The Wire” writers wrote it into the HBO series. Fans would approach Whitlock on the street daily asking him to repeat the line. The 2011 comedy “Cedar Rapids” featured Whitlock playing a character obsessed with “The Wire.”
Whitlock also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” as a doctor. His television work included “Chappelle’s Show” and playing U.S. Secretary of Defense George Maddox on “Veep” in Seasons 2, 3 and 4, where his character ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer in the primaries.
Film credits include “Pieces of April,” “Enchanted,” Pixar’s “Cars 3” and “Lightyear,” and the upcoming Pixar animated film “Hoppers,” due March 6, 2026.
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