The world was surprised and saddened during the New Year holiday week by learning the passage of the great Isiah Whitlock Jr., someone whose presence enriched every project he participated in. He was one of those guys who made you smile when he walked into a scene, aware of his screen presence and able to use it as a weapon. Some actors bring texture to movies and TV shows by anchoring scenes, playing a man that viewers feel like they know and who exists between major story beats.
Whitlock didn’t steal scenes as much as he elevated them, becoming part of the fabric of storytellers like David Simon and Spike Lee, who knew exactly how to use that stealthy genius. His manager posted the news, writing, “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.”
Whitlock was a Midwestern kid, born in South Bend, where he attended John Adams High School. He was also an athlete, a football player at Southwest Minnesota State University, but an injury pushed him from the field to the stage, where he played a role in The Crucible. He caught the acting bug and joined the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco after graduation, before taking off from there.
He had a few small TV credits of the era, but his first two film roles were an astonishing one-two punch of very different 1990s classics: “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” and “Goodfellas.” He is memorable in Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece. Yet it would really take shape in Lee’s “25th Hour” as Agent Flood, where he first uttered his trademark pronunciation of a certain profanity, which would later be incorporated into future projects and made famous several times on “The Wire.” The word became so associated with Whitlock that it marked Twitter’s move to 280 characters with a memorable use new space. He would claim that it took nine “e”s to say it correctly.
Whitlock would work with Lee on several occasions, appearing in “She Hate Me”, “Red Hook Summer”, “Chi-Raq”, “BlacKKKlansman” and “Da 5 Bloods”. Lee recognized Whitlock’s strengths, making him a valuable part of his regular roster. Other highlights of the film include “Not Fade Away”, “1408”, “Pieces of April”, “Pete’s Dragon” and “I Care a Lot”.
Whitlock was also a significant presence on television, starting with recurring appearances in the “Law & Order” universe in the 2000s and 2010s — he appeared in 14 episodes across the franchises — but he will probably be best remembered as State Sen. R. Clay Davis in David Simon’s “The Wire.” Whitlock captured the kind of corruption that comes with a smile: someone who acts as if they support the community, doing everything in their power to line their own pockets instead of acting in the best interests of their constituents. This is a guy who lives under a constant cloud of investigation and immorality. Whitlock doesn’t play him as a mustache-twirling villain, but rather treats him as so many real-life opportunists who wield power with casual malevolence. Even Stringer Bell wanted him dead.
His cynical comedic timing made him a perfect fit for the world of “Veep,” where he memorably appeared in seven episodes, and he was also memorable with recurring roles in “The Mist,” “Your Honor” and last year’s “The Residence.”
We’ll leave the last word to Spike Lee, who job a stunning photo of him and Whitlock on Instagram last week, writing: “Today I learned of the passing of my dear, beloved brother ISIAH WHITLOCK.
God bless.