Isiah Whitlock Jr., ‘The Wire’ and ‘Veep’ actor, dead at 71

After 'The Wire,' Whitlock moved on to the political satire 'Veep,' where he played Secretary of Defense George Maddox for three seasons.

Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made frequent memorable appearances on the HBO series The Wire and Veep and in five films with director Spike Lee, died Tuesday. He was 71.

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 openly corrupt state Sen. Clay Davis on 25 episodes across the five seasons of The Wire.

Davis, a fan-favourite character, was known for his profane catchphrase — “sheee-it” — delivered by Whitlock in moments of triumph and blunt honesty. The actor first used the phrase in his first film with Lee, 2002’s The 25th Hour, when his detective character discovers a cache of drugs hidden in a couch.

“It’s a big, big, big loss,” Lee said in a phone call with the AP on Tuesday night. “I’m going to miss him for the rest of my life.”

Whitlock went on to appear in four other Lee films, including 2004’s She Hate Me, 2012’s Red Hook Summer, 2015’s Chi-Raq, 2018’s BlacKkKlansman and 2020’s Da 5 Bloods.

“We vibed over all those years,” Lee said. “We clicked from the jump.”