Actor Michael K. Williams, who as the rogue robber of drug dealers Omar Little on “The Wire” created one of the most popular characters in television in recent decades, died Monday.
Williams was found dead Monday afternoon in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment, New York City police said. He was 54.
His death was being investigated as a possible drug overdose, the NYPD said.
During the height of his fame, Williams battled addiction and lived a double life in some of Newark’s most dangerous neighborhoods — doing drugs “in scary places with scary people,” he told NJ Advance Media in a profile from 2012. During breaks from shooting, Williams would retreat to the Newark area, looking for cocaine and weed, he said.
“I was playing with fire,” Williams said at the time. “It was just a matter of time before I got caught and my business ended up on the cover of a tabloid or I went to jail or, worse, I ended up dead. When I look back on it now, I don’t know how I didn’t end up in a body bag.”
Williams got cleaned up after a friend dragged him to the Christian Love Baptist Church in Irvington, where he met Rev. Ronald Christian. Williams and Christian instantly connected.
“He never judged me,” Williams said at the time of Christian. “He always asked, ‘Are you okay?’ He loved me until I could love myself.”
Little, a “stick-up boy” based on real figures from Baltimore, was probably the most beloved character among the devoted fans of “The Wire,” the HBO show that ran from 2002 to 2008 and is re-watched constantly in streaming.
The Brooklyn-born Williams was also a ubiquitous character actor in other shows and films for more than two decades, including roles on the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire” and “Lovecraft Country,” and in the films “12 Years a Slave” and “Assassin’s Creed.” As Little, he played a criminal with a strict moral code, known for taking advantage of a reputation for brutality that wasn’t always real.
A cigarette in his mouth, he would whistle “The Farmer in the Dell” to ominously announce his arrival. And he spoke many of the show’s most memorable lines, including, “a man gotta have a code” and “all in the game yo, all in the game.”
The character also broke TV ground as an openly gay man whose sexuality wasn’t central to his role. Williams appeared in all five seasons of “The Wire” from 2002 to 2008, his character growing in prominence with each season.
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Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com.
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