Michael K Williams: The Wire and Broadwalk Empire star found dead aged 54

The Wire actor Michael K. Williams has been found dead in his New York penthouse apartment, according to his family.

The 54-year-old, most famous for his role as gay highwayman Omar Little in HBO’s The Wire, had been nominated for five Emmys in his glittering career.

“No foul play indicated,” a police source told The Post. “No forced entry, the apartment was in order.”

Williams was found dead by his nephew in the living room of his pad in the luxury Brooklyn high-rise, sources said.

The actor is currently a 2021 Emmy Award nominee for best-supporting actor for Lovecraft Country and also won acclaim for his role as Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire.

“It is with deep sorrow that the family announces the passing of Emmy nominated actor Michael Kenneth Williams. They ask for your privacy while grieving this unsurmountable loss,” his long-time rep Marianna Shafran confirmed on Monday night.

Tributes flooded in to the actor with social media flooded with clips of his best performances and lines from the iconic show.

Wendell Pierce, who played Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire, tweeted: “The depth of my love for this brother, can only be matched by the depth of my pain learning of his loss. An immensely talented man with the ability to give voice to the human condition portraying the lives of those whose humanity is seldom elevated until he sings their truth.

“If you don’t know, you better ask somebody. His name was Michael K. Williams. He shared with me his secret fears then stepped out into his acting with true courage, acting in the face of fear, not in the absence of it. It took me years to learn what Michael had in abundance.”

Another The Wire co-star Domenick Lombardozzi, who played Herc in the series, tweeted: “Michael K Williams I knew was kind. Fair. Gentle. And super f***ing talented. I’ll cherish our talks and I’ll miss him tremendously. My deepest condolences to the Williams family. Rest my friend.”

Mr WiIliams was open about how his screen life bled into his real life as he revealed he was privately suffering from drug addiction as he won acclaim for his portrayal of Omar who earned a living by robbing street-level heroin dealers.

He told NPR in 2016 that he once stumbled into a church in New Jersey desperately seeking help.

“When I came through those doors, I was broken. … This was, I would say, around the … third season of ‘The Wire,’ ” Williams said.

“I was on drugs. … I was in jeopardy of destroying everything I had worked so hard for, and I came in those doors, and I met a man who had never even heard of ‘The Wire,’ much less watched it,” he said, referring to the pastor.

“I wrote my full name down — Michael Kenneth Williams — and in the office, [the pastor] turns around, and he says, ‘So what do you want to be called, man?’ I said, ‘Well, you know, my name is Michael, but I could do Mike.’

“He says, ‘Why does everybody say, ‘Omar, Omar’s in trouble?’ ” And I was like, ‘Oh, this dude is clueless [about the show]’.”

As well as The Wire, Williams, who had a distinctive facial scar from a bar fight on his 25th birthday, had roles in gangster series Boardwalk Empire and TV film Bessie.

He was a four-time Emmy nominee for Bessie, The Night Of When They See Us and Lovecraft Country.

Last week, it was announced Williams had joined the cast of Sony’s untitled biopic of famed world heavyweight champion George Foremen.

He was set to play Doc Broadus, who was Foreman’s trainer and mentor.

His other film roles included The Road, Inherent Vice and 12 Years A Slave.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in