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Clarke Peters

A quietly magnetic character actor in television on both sides of the Atlantic, American actor Clarke Peters brought enormous dignity and intelligence to his best roles, which were anchored by his celebrated turn as Baltimore detective Lester Freamon on "The Wire" (HBO, 2002-07). Prior to the celebrated drama, Peters had been a familiar face on the English stage, where he lived since the early 1970s and where he conceived the book for the Tony-nominated musical "Five Guys Named Moe." After appearing as a pitiful drug addict in producer David Simon's HBO miniseries, "The Corner" (2000), he was cast as Freamon, an older but infinitely wiser detective whose slow but effective methods helped to bring down a powerful drug empire. The worldwide critical success of the series helped to mint Peters as a star, and he was soon cast as other strong, proud and intelligent men in episodes of "Damages" (FX, 2007-10; DirecTV, 2011-12) and Simon's follow-up to "The Wire," the multi-character drama "Treme" (HBO, 2010- ). Whether on stage or the small screen, Peters was a subtle but powerful and undeniably watchable presence.