ByCulture EuronewswithP.A.

Published on
12/31/2025 – 11:03 GMT+1

Isiah Whitlock Jr., best known for his memorable roles on HBO’s The Wire and Veep, as well as his frequent collaborations with director Spike Lee, has died at the age of 71.

The news was announced Tuesday by Whitlock’s manager, Brian Liebman.

“It is with great sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr.,” Liebman shared on Instagram.

“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,” he continued.

One of Whitlock’s most notable roles was as the openly corrupt State Senator Clay Davis on The Wire – widely considered one of the greatest television shows of all time.

Davis became a favorite character among fans, beloved for his profane catchphrase – “sheee-it” – uttered by Whitlock in moments of triumph and blunt honesty. The actor first used the expression in his first film with Spike Lee in 2002. The 25th hourwhen his detective character discovers a cache of drugs hidden in a sofa.

“It’s a big, big, big loss,” Lee told the AP. “I’m going to miss him for the rest of my life.”

“A beautiful and beautiful soul”

Whitlock went on to appear in four more Lee films, including the 2004 film. She hates meyears 2012 Crochet Red Summeryears 2015 Chi-Lear2018 BlackKkKlansman and the 2020s Da 5 Sangs.

“We’ve been rocking all these years,” Lee said. “We clicked from the jump. »

Lee said he has particularly fond memories of the extended time he spent with the Whitlock set. Da 5 Sangs on location in Thailand, and fondly remembers the last time he saw Whitlock at a screening of Kiss of the Spider Woman earlier this year.

“She was just a very beautiful soul,” Lee said. “If you were with him, he made everyone feel good around him. He would glow. I would put that above his acting.”

Whitlock is the second major star of The Wire to die in recent weeks following the actor’s death James Ransonwho played the petty criminal Ziggy Sobotka.

Originally from South Bend, Indiana, Whitlock grew up in a large family – one of ten siblings.

After graduating from Southwest Minnesota State University in 1976, where he played football and studied theater, injuries caused him to favor theater over sports.

He began his on-screen career with brief television guest roles on shows such as Cagney and Lacy in the late 1980s, then landed small roles in the 1990 films. The Freedmen And Gremlins 2: the new batch.

After The Wire, Whitlock moved on to another HBO show, the political satire Veep, where he played Secretary of Defense George Maddox for three seasons. The character ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer in the presidential primaries.

Wire creator David Simon also paid tribute to Whitlock in an article on Bluesky.

“As good an actor as he was,” said Simon, “Isiah was an even better spirit and the greatest gentleman.”

The year 2025 is coming to an end, without a classic end-of-year rally, but with a DAX that has proven many critics wrong. Price increase of more than 21 percent since the beginning of the year, stronger than the US market. Who could have expected this months ago?

It is precisely these developments that make the stock market so attractive. Because in 2026, everything risks happening differently than expected. While many analysts expect prices to continue to rise, a central question arises: what will be the real surprises in the coming year and how can you take advantage of them?

Our current special report highlights five developments that almost no one expects, but which have enormous return potential. From the return of oil stocks to undervalued rig stocks to the possible changing of the guard in the AI ​​sector: if you want to perform above average in 2026, you need to think counter-cyclically and take a position early.

In the free report, we present 5 stocks that could be at the center of such turning points in 2026. Solidly valued, well positioned and with surprisingly strong momentum.

Download now for free! Before others realize where the opportunities really lie!

This exclusive PDF is only available for a limited time.

Dame Sarah Mullally will be the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, having been chosen to succeed Justin Welby after he announced his resignation more than a year ago due to his failure to handle an abuse scandal.

Dame Sarah, who is due to take up her role on January 28, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “One of the wonderful things about the last few months is that I have received hundreds and hundreds of letters of support from women.

“I got a wonderful letter from someone who said that when they went to church as children, they said to their mother, ‘I want to be like the man in the pulpit,’ and of course the mother said, ‘No, you can’t.’ She is now ordained, but she said my appointment, or the announcement of my appointment, was the first time she felt affirmed.

Dame Sarah added that “sometimes, you know, like many women, I’ve had difficult times, and I think it’s there throughout society, I think it’s changing, but I suppose to deny that would be a mistake.”

Dame Sarah was speaking to former Prime Minister Baroness Theresa May, guest editor of the Today programme, on Wednesday.

When asked how she saw the role of the Church in a world that has become much more polarized and divided, Dame Sarah replied: “Well, I think the opportunity for the Church is to provide spaces for listening and increased community cohesion.

“You know, there’s a church in every community. Interestingly enough, you see what we’re starting to see in the Christian church is this sort of quiet revival.

“I’ve been to a number of churches over the last couple of weeks where I’ve seen young people coming back to church. I think they’re looking for friendship, they’re looking for relationships. I wonder if there’s this sort of hunger for relationships outside of social media that we’re starting to see.”

Dame Sarah said safeguarding the Anglican Church would receive her primary attention.

She said the Church of England had “significant safeguarding failures for which we are truly sorry”, and added that the Church had made progress over the past 10 years.

And she added: “We have made progress. We can never be complacent, and this will certainly be something I will give paramount attention to when I become Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Regarding assisted dying, Dame Sarah said her approach was from the perspective that she was both a nurse and a priest, and that she “sat alongside many people who had died”.

She said: “I clearly have a principled view against assisted dying.

“I think we need to care for the most vulnerable in our society. We need to have a vision that everyone is created in the image of God.

“And I suppose those who support the bill are talking about choice. I’m not sure we have a choice, particularly because we don’t fund palliative care properly. I worry that people may make the decision to seek medical assistance in dying because they don’t have the right palliative care or the right social protection.

“I also worry that there is, you know, a whole group of people who haven’t had a choice in life. These are people who, because of inequality, are more likely to get cancer and be diagnosed late and die from it.”

“What concerns me is that this group of people might be presented with options and think that because of the value judgments of others, the option is medical assistance in dying and not chemotherapy and that they have to fight for it.

“And so I worry that, in a sense, those safeguards are not in the bill, and I think I’m not sure that an amendment will make it safer.”