Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including The Wire, Fringe and the John Wick franchise, has died. He was 60.

Reddick died “suddenly” Friday morning, his publicist Mia Hansen said in a statement, attributing his death to natural causes.

Tributes have flashed across social media after news of the death.

Filmmaker James Gunn said Reddick was "an incredibly nice guy, and an incredibly talented actor," in a tweet.

Wendell Pierce, Reddick’s co-star on The Wire paying tribute on Twitter.

“A man of great strength and grace,” he wrote. “As talented a musician as he was an actor. The epitome of class.”

Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall taciturn and elegant men of distinction.

He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series The Wire, where his character was agonisingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.

“I’m an artist at heart. I feel that I’m very good at what I do. When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a Black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I would be, and to be noticed,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.

Reddick also starred on the Fox series Fringe as a special agent Phillip Broyles, the smartly dressed Matthew Abaddon on Lost and played the multi-skilled Continental Hotel concierge Charon in the John Wick movies, including the fourth in the series that releases later this month.

He earned a SAG Award nomination in 2021 as part of the ensemble for Regina King’s film One Night in Miami. Reddick played recurring roles on Intelligence and American Horror Story and was on the show Bosch for its seven-year run.

His upcoming projects include 20th Century’s remake of White Men Can’t Jump and Shirley, Netflix’s biopic of former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. He was also slated to appear in the John Wick spinoff Ballerina, as well as The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

The Baltimore-born-and-raised Reddick was a Yale University drama school graduate who enjoyed some success after school by landing guest or recurring roles CSI: Miami and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He also appeared in several movies, including I Dreamed of Africa, The Siege and Great Expectations.

Reddick is survived by his wife, Stephanie Reddick, and children, Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick.