Actor Isaiah Whitlock Jr., known for playing corrupt state senator Clay Davis on “The Wire,” died Tuesday in New York, Variety reported. He was 71 years old.
His manager Brian Liebman shared the news on Instagram, writing, “It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my dear friend and client, Isaiah Whitlock Jr. If you knew him… If so, you loved him. May his memory be a blessing forever. He will be sorely missed.”
Born in Indiana, Whitlock was a prolific character actor who frequently collaborated with Spike Lee and appeared in his films “BlacKkKlansman,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “She Hate Me,” “25 Hours,” “Red Hook Summer,” and “Chee Rak.”
For many of his projects, he developed the catchphrase “sheeeeee-it,” a long pronunciation of the word “shit.” It started with “She Hate Me” and “25th Hour,” and then the writers of “The Wire” started incorporating it into the HBO series. Whitlock said fans would ask him to say his catchphrase, sometimes stopping him on the street two or three times a day. In a meta twist, Whitlock was cast as a man obsessed with “The Wire” in the 2011 comedy “Cedar Rapids.”
Whitlock also played a doctor in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas,” and has also appeared in “Chappell’s Show,” “Pieces of April,” “Enchanted,” and Pixar’s “Cars 3” and “Lightyear.” He also lent his voice to Pixar’s animated sci-fi comedy “Hoppers,” scheduled for release in 2026.
In seasons 2 to 4 of “Veep,” Whitlock played U.S. Secretary of Defense George Maddox, who ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer in the 2016 primary election.
