Michael K. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment Monday afternoon. The actor was a staple of prestige TV series like Boardwalk Empire, Lovecraft Country, and especially The Wire, David Simon’s celebrated drama about drug dealers in Baltimore.
Williams’ performance as Omar Little was unforgettable not just because of its badass fearlessness—the shotgun, the long duster, the laconic philosophizing in lines like, “A man’s got to have a code” and “Boy, you got me confused with a man who repeats himself”—but also because of its warring strains of tenderness and violence. Omar’s grief over a young, fallen boyfriend was no less convincing than the character’s ferocity and ingenuity; it was clear that even the character famous for saying, “It’s all in the game, yo,” could be devastated by what the game demanded. Williams’s work in the series is central to The Wire’s reputation as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time.
Like many of his best-known roles, Omar was informed by Williams’ own rough past, as the actor told Vanity Fair’s Julie Miller in 2017. Williams grew up in the public housing projects of East Flatbush, Brooklyn; as a teenager, he fought addiction. He found solace in performing—first as a dancer for the likes of Madonna, Missy Elliott, Crystal Waters, and Ginuwine, then as an actor. As he told Miller: “The arts gave me something that no amount of money, no statue could—a life, a voice, a purpose.”
Williams’s death was first reported by the New York Post and confirmed by Variety. Law-enforcement sources told the Post that drug paraphernalia was found at the scene, indicating that the five-time Emmy nominee may have died of an overdose. Williams’ body was discovered by his nephew.
This story is developing…
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