Lance Solomon Reddick was born on June 7, 1962, in a place called Baltimore. Mr. Reddick attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied classical composition. He was a skilled pianist and in 2010 released an album of his works, “Contemplations & Remembrances.”
1. Early working days of Lance Reddick
In 1995, at Manhattan Theater Club in New York, he appeared in “After-Play,” Mr. Reddick portrayed their mysterious waiter. The play had a long run in New York, and in 1997 he reprised the role at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. By then his television work was beginning to pick up, although he did not abandon the stage completely. In 2006 he was in Signature Theater Company’s New York revival of August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars,” putting his musical background to good use portraying a blues musician named Floyd.
Lance Reddick, best known for playing a police commander Cedric Daniels in the Baltimore crime drama “The Wire”, Phillip Broyles in “Fringe”, David Gentry in “Angel Has Fallen”, and later had prominent roles in the “John Wick” movie franchise and Chief Irvin Irving in the Amazon series “Bosch,” died on Friday at the age of 60.
He was 60. He was also famous for portraying Detective Johnny Basil on Oz, Matthew Abaddon in Lost, and Albert Wesker in the Netflix series Resident Evil. He provided the voice and likeness for video game characters Martin Hatch in Quantum Break, Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, and Commander Zavala in the Destiny franchise.
2. His Unfortunate death
His death was confirmed by his publicist, Mia Hansen. Lance Reddick, a veteran character actor known for his performance as Cedric Daniels on “The Wire” and for his work in the “John Wick” franchise, died of natural causes, according to his representative, Mia Hansen.
“Lance was taken from us far too soon,” Stephanie Reddick, the late actor’s wife, published in an Instagram post on Saturday. “Thank you for all your overwhelming love, support, and beautiful stories shared on these platforms over the last day. I see your messages and can’t begin to express how grateful I am to have them.”
3. His success Stories
Mr. Reddick was having some success as a stage actor when, in 1996, he began landing small roles on “New York Undercover,” “The West Wing” and other television series, as well as some TV movies.
Even then he was often playing law enforcement figures, and he would be doing so when his breakthrough came in 2002: He was cast as Lt. Cedric Daniels, the principled head of the investigation unit, on “The Wire,” the sprawling HBO series that was praised for its realistic and often downbeat depiction. The series ran for five seasons and is widely regarded as having brought a new level of sophistication to police dramas and television in general.
In the crime drama “Bosch,” which ran from 2014 to 2021, he was a police official. In the movie “White House Down” (2013), about an assault on the White House, he was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He got away from law-enforcement roles in the “John Wick” movies, the action franchise that stars Keanu Reeves in the title role. He played Charon, a hotel manager, in all four films, the first of which was released in 2014. The latest is being released this month. In all those roles and others, Mr. Reddick was a distinctive, instantly recognizable presence, even if he was not quite a household name. His voice was distinctive, too, as players of Horizon Zero Dawn, Destiny 2, and other video games on which he could be heard.