Isiah Whitlock Jr. — star of The Wire and frequent Spike Lee collaborator — died Tuesday after a short illness. He was 71. His manager, Brian Liebman, confirmed the news to Deadline. As Clay Davis on The Wire, Whitlock became famous for saying the word “shit” as if it was polysyllabic and could hold all human suffering at bay. His association with the word was so strong that he celebrated Twitter’s character limit increase with a 280-character swear. He also appeared on The History of Swear Words in service of his favorite curse. Spike Lee tributed his “Dear Beloved Brother” on social media, citing the seven projects they worked on together over 20+ years: 25th Hour, She Hate Me, Red Hook Summer, Chi-Raq, the She’s Gotta Have It TV series, BlacKKKlansman, and Da Five Bloods.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. was born in 1954 in South Bend, Indiana. After graduating college, he joined San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. He started working in film and television in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, with small parts in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Goodfellas, and As the World Turns. Like many New York actors, Whitlock played several people on multiple Law & Order franchises.
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In 2002, Whitlock landed the role of corrupt State Senator Clayton “Clay” Davis, which he would play for all 5 seasons of The Wire. That same year, he appeared in 25th Hour. After The Wire, Whitlock became a beloved character actor. He appeared in everything from Cedar Rapids (as a guy who loves The Wire) to Veep to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. II.
In both The Wire and 25th Hour, Whitlock uttered his catchphrase swear. Whitlock told Slate in 2008 that he got that particular pronunciation from his uncle: “Whitlock offered an example: ‘How’d you enjoy your dinner?’ someone might ask his uncle. To which he would respond, ‘Sheee-it, I tore them pork chops up.’ Lee heard Whitlock say sheee-it and added it to his role in 25th Hour. Likewise, sheee-it was written into his first The Wire script, with the extra e’s spelled out. “I was in, I think, Grand Central Station and far away I heard someone say it and they’d be kind of smiling” he said, per Deadline. “I’m glad people enjoy it.”
