James Ransone, a character actor who played an impulsive drug-dealing dockworker in the iconic HBO series “The Wire” and later appeared in the horror films “Sinister” and “It: Chapter Two,” died in Los Angeles on Friday. He was 46 years old.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office, Ransone committed suicide.
Originally from Maryland, Ransone studied theater at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology in the Baltimore County community of Towson before breaking into television a few years later.
Ransone appeared in several notable horror films. He played Max in “The Black Phone,” a film about a teenager who is kidnapped by a serial killer. The film was based on a short story written by Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, and starred Ethan Hawke. Ransone reprized his role in the sequel, “Black Phone II.”
Ransone appeared in another horror film with Hawke, taking on the role of the deputy in “Sinister.” The film centers on a writer who finds snuff films in his new house. Ransone also starred alongside Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain and Bill Skarsgård in the sequel “It: Chapter Two”, playing Eddie Kaspbrak, one of several characters tormented by the killer clown Pennywise.
While promoting the film, he defended the horror genre against those who consider it a “disposable” category.
“To those people I say, 'Tell that to William Friedkin or Stanley Kubrick,'” Ransone said in an interview with Anthem Magazine.
He also had roles in the shows “Generation Kill,” “Treme,” and “Bosch.” His last television appearance came in an episode of the second season of Peacock's crime comedy show, “Poker Face,” which aired in June.
But he will probably be remembered most for his portrayal of Ziggy Sobotka in “The Wire,” a dark, uncompromising drama, hailed as one of the best television shows of all time, that explored various aspects of Baltimore and its institutions. Ransone appeared in all 12 episodes of the show's second season, which focused on the destruction of the city's docks.
He played the son of a dock union leader, whose scheming charisma got him into trouble with other low-level criminals, but also endeared him to some viewers. In a notable narrative arc, he bought a duck, which he paraded around wearing a diamond necklace; The bird later died because he gave it too much alcohol.
The critically acclaimed HBO series aired from 2002 to 2008 and starred Dominic West, Michael Kenneth Williams, John Doman, Idris Elba, Wood Harris, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce, Frankie Faison, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and more.
In a statement to the Baltimore Banner news site, “Wire” creator David Simon called Ransone's death “painful and horrible.”
“He committed himself not only to the work but to the camaraderie that turns every good film production into something familiar and loving,” said the statement from Simon, who also cast Ransone in “Generation Kill” and “Treme.”
In an interview on MSNBC after the release of the movie “Sinister 2,” Ransone said he was proud of the work he had done on “The Wire,” but called it a “real double-edged sword” in that people would always pigeonhole him as Ziggy. He described himself as a horror film fan and talked about how working with filmmakers like Simon, Sean Baker and Spike Lee had opened his eyes to many social inequalities.
It was not immediately clear if Ransone was living in Los Angeles at the time of his death. A man by his name is listed on the California secretary of state's website as a resident of the Fairfax neighborhood.
LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said that around 2 p.m. Friday a police squad responded to a 911 call about an undetermined death at that location. Inside, he said, officers found a man who appeared to have taken his own life.
Since no foul play is suspected, the case is being handled by the medical examiner's office, Eisenman said, adding that he could not confirm that the man was Ransone or provide other details about the 911 call.
TMZ reported that Ransone was married with two children, and his wife Jamie McPhee posted a fundraiser for the National Alliance on Mental Illness on her social media profile.
In recent years, Ransone came out as a survivor of sexual abuse and also spoke openly about his struggle with addiction.
In 2016, he told Interview magazine that he had gotten sober at age 27 “after doing heroin for five years.”
“People think I got sober working on 'Generation Kill'. I didn't. I got sober six or seven months before that,” he told the publication. “I remember going to Africa and I was going to be there for almost a year. I was number two on the call sheet and I thought, 'I think someone made a mistake. This is too much responsibility for me.'”
Ransone revealed in 2021 that he had been sexually abused by a former guardian at his childhood home in Phoenix, Maryland, over a six-month span in 1992, according to the Baltimore Banner. She revealed the allegations on Instagram, where she shared a long note she had sent to her alleged abuser, Banner reported. A police investigation into the allegations was subsequently launched but closed without charges being filed.
Crisis Counseling and Suicide Prevention Resources
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional and call 9-8-8. The United States' first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline, 988, will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Text “HOME” to 741741 in the US and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.
