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Tributes poured in over the weekend for Lance Reddick, one of Hollywood’s most intense, commanding and unforgettable character actors, who died Friday at 60 of natural causes.
Reddick was best known for his role as Lt. Cedric Daniels, the high-minded head of an investigation unit on HBO’s The Wire, and as Charon, the hotel concierge, in the John Wick movie franchise.
At Monday’s premiere of John Wick: Chapter 4, the film franchise’s latest installment, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, star Keanu Reeves, 58, reminisced about his time with Reddick. “We worked together on four films over 10 years,” he told People. “He was a remarkable artist and a special person with grace and dignity.” Audience members wore blue ribbons in tribute to Reddick, and Reeves and the film’s director, Chad Stahelski, announced that Chapter 4 would be dedicated to the late actor.
In a long career that also saw him star as Special Agent Phillip Broyles on Fringe and as Matthew Abaddon on Lost, the prolific actor earned industry respect and accolades, including a 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his ensemble work in Regina King’s film One Night in Miami. His death was shocking not only for its suddenness and his relatively young age, but also for his lost potential.
In a tweet, Wendell Pierce, Reddick’s Wire costar, called him a “man of great strength and grace, as talented a musician as he was an actor, the epitome of class. A sudden unexpected sharp painful grief for our artistic family. An unimaginable suffering for his personal family and loved ones. Godspeed my friend. You made your mark here.”
“Shocked!! Speechless!!,” actor Viola Davis wrote on Instagram. “This talented, kind, intelligent King is gone!! I was blessed to have worked with you and blessed to have known you. Praying for comfort for your family and loved ones! Rest well Lance Reddick ... see you on the other side.”
