Bobby J. Brown, the actor who played Officer Bobby Brown on The Wire, has died. He was 62.
The actor’s daughter said that he died on Tuesday of smoke inhalation when he was caught in a barn fire in Maryland, which was determined to be an accident after he went inside the barn to jump-start a car, according to TMZ.
The outlet reported that Brown called to a family member for a fire extinguisher, but by the time they returned with the extinguisher, the structure was already engulfed in flames.
“I am upset and saddened. He was such a good actor and person,” his agent Albert Bramante told TMZ. “He was totally dedicated to the craft of acting and was a joy to work with.”
Born and raised in Washington DC, Brown took up boxing at an early age, winning five Golden Glove Championships before moving to New Jersey to fight professionally.
While fighting in Atlantic City casinos, Brown became interested in acting during the filming of the 1988 Mickey Rourke boxing movie Homeboy. He then moved to New York to study the craft at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Making his onscreen debut in a 1998 episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, Brown also appeared that year in John Waters’ Pecker as Average Joe. In addition to movies like City by the Sea (2002) and Miss Virginia (2019), Brown has appeared in shows like Law & Order: SVU and Veep.
Brown was most known for his recurring role on HBO’s The Wire as Officer Bobby Brown from 2002 to 2008. In 2022, he returned to the network to play Thomas Allers in the limited series We Own This City, a true story about the corruption in Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force.
