James Ransone, best known for playing Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire, one of the most acclaimed series of all time, has died aged 46.
According to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner, James Ransone died of suicide.
Ransone also appeared in a number of films and series, including Prom Night, The Black Phone, Law & Order and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the 2008 miniseries Generation Kill, 2019’s It Chapter Two, and Poker Face among the rest. He was married to Jamie McPhee with whom he had two children.
McPhee took to Instagram to honor her husband. She posted a photo of her and Ransone captioned, “I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again. You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right.
The post added: “Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.”
McPhee also shared a link to a GoFundMe page for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
During his life, he spoke openly of the sexual abuse he suffered from a tutor while growing up in Maryland. In an Instagram post from 2021, he wrote of the abuse and said it led to “a lifetime of shame and embarrassment.” According to the actor, the incident triggered his addictions to alcohol and heroin, according to the BBC.
Fans and friends honored Ransone on the social media.
Wendell Pierce posted on X, “Sorry I couldn’t be there for you, brother. Rest in Peace James Ransone.”
Director Spike Lee shared a photo of them together and wrote on Instagram: “Rest In Peace To My Dear Brother, MR. JAMES RANSONE. We Rocked Together On RED HOOK SUMMER And INSIDE MAN.”
Sean Baker, the Oscar-winning director of Anora who worked with Ransone on the films Starlet (2012) and Tangerine (2015), wrote, “I’ll miss you dearly my friend.”
Madeleine McGraw, who starred with Ransone in The Black Phone and its sequel, remembered Ransone as “such a beautiful soul” and “so genuinely supportive.”
“I’m struggling to put into words the profound emptiness I’m feeling since learning of James Ransone’s passing,” she wrote on her Instagram story. “My heart is absolutely shattered.”
Natasha Lyonne, who starred alongside Ransone in Poker Face, wrote, “Love you with everything I got and holding our beloved brilliant peejo with grace gratitude and cosmic peace into this life and the next – family forever.”
A GoFundMe has been established to assist Ransone’s wife and two children.
Rest in peace, James Ransone.
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