(Photo credit: Reuters)
Actor Michael K Williams, who played the shotgun-toting drug dealer Omar Little in the HBO crime drama The Wire. He died of an overdose of drugs, the New York City medical examiner’s office said on Friday.
“Acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin, and cocaine,”. This is the cause of death determine by the medical examiner. She declined any further comment on the investigation.
Among the real-life struggles he tapped were bouts with drug addiction. He brought to his best-known role for The Wire. The TV series was set in Baltimore and told the story of the narcotics trade from the perspective of criminals, police, and the people caught between them. Critics praised Williams for his portrayal of Little, a homosexual drug dealer at war with his rivals.
Williams played the powerful African-American gangster Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire, an HBO series set in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the Prohibition era of the 1920s.
During his career, Williams earned Emmy nominations for performances in HBO’s Bessie, The Night Of, and Lovecraft Country. He also won praise for his role in the 2019 Netflix series. When They See Us, the true story of five teenagers falsely accused of a brutal attack on a female jogger in New York’s Central Park, who was eventually exonerated after spending years in prison.