The Wire creator David Simon praised Reddick on Twitter: “Consummate professional, devoted collaborator, lovely and gentle man, loyal friend. Could go on, but no, I can’t go on. This is gutting. And way, way, way too soon.”
“I’m an artist at heart. I feel that I’m very good at what I do. When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a Black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed,” Reddick told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.
Reddick also starred on the Fox series Fringe as a special agent Phillip Broyles, the smartly-dressed Matthew Abaddon on Lost and played the multi-skilled Continental Hotel concierge Charon in Lionsgate’s John Wick movies, including the fourth in the series that releases later this month.
“The world of Wick would not be what it is without Lance Reddick and the unparalleled depth he brought to Charon’s humanity and unflappable charisma. Lance leaves behind an indelible legacy and hugely impressive body of work, but we will remember him as our lovely, joyful friend and Concierge,” Lionsgate said in a statement.
Reddick earned a SAG Award nomination in 2021 as part of the ensemble for Regina King’s film One Night in Miami. He played recurring roles on Intelligence and American Horror Story and was on the show Bosch for its seven-year run.
His upcoming projects include 20th Century’s remake of White Men Can’t Jump and Shirley, Netflix’s biopic of former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. He was also slated to appear in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina, as well as The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.
The Baltimore-born-and-raised Reddick was a Yale University drama school graduate who enjoyed some success after school by landing guest or recurring roles CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also appeared in several movies, including I Dreamed of Africa, The Siege and Great Expectations.
It was on season four of Oz, playing a doomed undercover officer sent to prison who becomes an addict, that Reddick had a career breakthrough.
“I was never interested in television. I always saw it as a means to an end. Like so many actors, I was only interested in doing theater and film. But Oz changed television. It was the beginning of HBO’s reign on quality, edgy, artistic stuff. Stuff that harkens back to great cinema of the ’60s and ’70s,” he told The Associated Press in 2011.
“When the opportunity for Oz came up, I jumped. And when I read the pilot for The Wire, as a guy that never wanted to be on television, I realised I had to be on this show.”
Reddick attended the prestigious Eastman School of Music, where he studied classical composition, and he played piano. His first album, the jazzy Contemplations and Remembrances, came out in 2011.
He had a recurring role as Jeffrey Tetazoo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, on the CBS series Intelligence. On American Horror Story: Coven, he portrayed Papa Legba, the go-between between humanity and the spirit world.
Reddick is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick, and children, Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick.
His death was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.com.
