Omar Comin Home
Michael K. Williams was a brilliant actor. He gave performances that you felt. He’s probably best know for his work in The Wire, a masterpiece TV series, but he portrayed other memorable characters—like Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire, Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country, and Freddy Knight in The Night Of—with the same kind of scene-stealing presence. He had several roles in movies and other TV shows. You could spot him in music videos or hear his voice in a cartoon or a video game, but in my heart and mind he will forever be Omar Little, King of Baltimore, whistling “Farmer in the Dell” while walking down the block in a duster and a bulletproof vest, or out shopping for some Honey Nut in a bath robe, or showing that even a street-hardened rip and running urban outlaw can’t deny who he is and who he loves.
On The Wire, among a cast of incredible actors who delivered career-defining performances, Michael K. Williams’s portrayal of Omar Little stood out as the show’s best. That’s no disrespect to Idris Elba, Wood Harris, Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Jamie Hector, Wendell Pierce … I have to stop there or else I’ll be listing names all night. If you’ve never seen the show, shame on you. Take a look at the cast and understand that Michael K. Williams was exemplary. He embodied such a grim character because he was a real person channeling the raw humanity of a kid from Flatbush, Brooklyn, layered with all the complexities growing up in that neighborhood can create. He bared the psychological scars of his childhood trauma and the physical scars of a reckless young man, bringing all of that life experience into the actors’ workshop to create a character so intertwined with his being that when the time came to let go of Omar Little, he struggled to separate himself from the character; he hated to see Omar die. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Who am I kidding? I hated seeing it, too. At a corner store? A sudden and unspectacular bullet to the back of the head from a kid. Like that? So went the tragedy of Omar Little.
It’s a fucking shame that Michael K. Williams passed away so young. I can’t put it in more eloquent terms. That’s what it is. He carried a tremendous weight in his soul that he gave back us in his performances. That’s art.
I listened to a couple old interviews he did with Terry Gross on “Fresh Air” today, and they had me in tears. Damn. We lost a real one.
Rest in power.
“You come at the king, you best not miss.” King of Baltimore Print by Tim Doyle
