Isiah Whitlock Jr., the veteran actor who appeared in “The Wire,” “Veep” and several Spike Lee films, died Tuesday in New York, according to his manager Brian Liebman. He was 71 years old.
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 in 25 episodes as State Senator R. Clayton “Clay” Davis.
“It is with great 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 an even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be greatly missed,” Liebman said in a statement.
In “The Wire,” Whitlock’s character became known for his elongated pronunciation of “st” as “sheeeeee-it,” a catchphrase that began in Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me” and “25th Hour” before “The Wire” writers wrote it into the HBO series. Fans approached Whitlock on the street daily to ask him to repeat the phrase. The 2011 comedy “Cedar Rapids” starred Whitlock playing a character obsessed with “The Wire.”
Whitlock also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” as a doctor. Her television work included “Chappelle’s Show” and the role of U.S. Defense Secretary George Maddox on “Veep” in seasons 2, 3 and 4, where her character ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer in the primaries.
Film credits include Pixar’s “Pieces of April,” “Enchanted,” “Cars 3” and “Lightyear,” as well as the upcoming Pixar animated film “Hoppers,” due March 6, 2026.
