Sixty years old is far too young to die. It is even more tragic when, at sixty, an exceptional artist is just hitting their stride. Character actor Lance Reddick is one such artist. He was a very interesting actor, intense and probably far ahead of his time. He had established himself — largely on TV, during a time of peak TV — and was just starting to become a force in film. One cannot help but ask, what might he have become as an actor on the big screen, given just one more decade?
Definitely intense; and not just dramatically intense, but also comedically so. Reddick was utterly unpredictable in his roles, in his performances:
I refer to him as a character actor, primarily, because that is what he was and what he excelled at for most of his career. Character actors are generally not doing the show business thing to fill some gaping hole of yearning from their childhood lost. They are committed to their roles, no matter how big or small, whether star of support, on the stage or on the little screen or even — sometimes — on the large.
As a character actor, Reddick was willing and able to explore the outer limits of any role in which he was cast, even video gaming roles, a thing of the future. I have not seen all of his work at the time of this writing, but I have seen enough to know that his talent was uncommon, his range remarkable and his absence already extraordinary online. It is even more tragic that he missed the premiere of perhaps his biggest film role yet, one that would have allowed him the latitude to explore even farther the outer limits of his chosen art form. On his absence of his talent at the premiere of John Wick: 4, Larry Fishburne and Keanu Reeves have been effusive:
Reddick played Officer Cedric Daniels in all five seasons of The Wire, arguably the best show in the history of television and arguably one of the most demanding roles on the show. During the course of five seasons Cedric Daniels rises as a credible force in the occasionally corrupt Baltimore Police Department as a Commander to Police Commissioner. By the end of the series, the narrative arc leads him to another career — as a criminal defense lawyer. To “rise” to a criminal defense lawyer from the position of Baltimore City Police Commander probably tells you all you need to know about the trajectory of the character and his commitment to unrigging the rigged justice system. And yet Reddick’s performance tells you so much more about the depth of Cedrick Daniels, of the struggle of a good man inveighing against the gravitational weight of urban inertia:
The Wire was so good because it blended world class municipal journalism, not the sexiest subject in the world, with the best sort of drama. It was HBO’s breakout show that, after its own fashion, made The Sopranos and Game of Thrones possible. The Wire was about race, class, poverty, ambition, our rigged criminal justice system, broken municipal politics, drugs, our failed education system, family disfunction — all of our American failings. And the throughline connecting all those threads is Lance Reddick’s Cedric Daniels.
—
Another one of my favorite Lance Reddick performances is flawed undercover Detective Johnny Desmond in Oz. Detective Desmond is a narcotics detective that goes undercover at HBO’s fictitious, gritty Oswald State Penitentiary armed only with a heavy Jamaican accent as “Mobay” in order to unravel the illicit drug trade behind bars. In the process, Mobay becomes a heroin addict under the stress of the job, living behind bars with killers and rapists, always afraid of being found out as a narc. Oz is one of the most underrated shows in television history. It was overflowing with some of the best character actors (and legitimate tough guys), yet even in such an ensemble with such a constellation of stars Reddick’s Desmond-Mobay character shone bright:
One good thing to be said about this artistic life cut short is his luck. The Romans used to call this force Fortuna and the older I get less skeptical of its reality in the human condition. As an extraordinarily gifted African-American artist, he was lucky enough to have lived at this time, in this country, at the height of his powers during the peak of peak TV.
France pension reform: Macron's government survives no-confidence vote (BBC)
Defeated Nigeria presidential candidate Peter Obi files petition contesting result (SEMAFOR)
"So, Putin's looking for allies and trying to make Russia part of a common fortress with China, as well as with India, some parts of Latin America and Africa. Putin is building his anti-Western world." (Steve Rosenberg/BBC)
Xi Jinping calls for ‘severe punishment’ after Chinese killed in mine attack in Central African Republic. (SCMP)
Can You Enjoy Art by Canceled Artists? (Tom Shone/Avenue)
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was under pressure at home to visit Ukraine. (Politico)
Lana Del Rey – ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’ review: masterful, still (NME)
Why First Amendment Experts Think Fox News Will Settle Its Dominion Dispute (THR)