Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made frequent memorable appearances on the HBO series The Wire and Veep and in five films with director Spike Lee, died Tuesday. He was 71. Whitlock's manager Brian Liebman told The Associated Press in an email that the actor died in New York after a short illness.Whitlock played openly corrupt state Sen. Clay Davis on 25 episodes across the five seasons of The Wire.Davis, a fan-favourite character, was known for his profane catchphrase - "sheee-it" - delivered by Whitlock in moments of triumph and blunt honesty.