The widow of James Ransone has paid an emotional tribute to her late husband.
Jamie McPhee has spoken publicly in a heartbreaking post on Instagram after the actor, best known for playing Ziggy Sobotka in The Wire, died aged 46 in an apparent suicide on Friday.
Ransone’s wife – who has two children with the actor – shared a photo of herself by her husband’s side in a garden, as they both smiled and he held his hand to her baby bump.
She wrote: ‘I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again. You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right.
‘Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.’
Meanwhile, a fundraiser has been set up to help support Jamie and the children, which has already raised $44,418 of its $120,000 goal.
‘James, who his friends called PJ, was funny, magnetic, brilliant, and endlessly alive. Above all else, he was an extraordinary father,’ organiser Camille Garmendia wrote.
‘His wife, Jamie, known by her friends as Skipper, and their children, Jack and Violet, were the center of his world. They loved him infinitely, and he loved them just as fiercely in return. Their bond was deep, joyful, and unmistakable to anyone who witnessed it.’
The page was set up to support them ‘as they navigate life after an unimaginable loss’.
‘Its purpose is simple,’ the post continues. ‘To give Jamie the space to focus fully on Jack and Violet, to care for them, protect their sense of security, and ensure they have a bright future—even without James’s light present in their everyday lives.’
As of Monday morning UK time, 262 people had sent their support, with several people donating $1,000.
An investigation was carried out after police were called to his residence on Friday, but no foul play is suspected, and as ruled by the Los Angeles Medical Examiner, the TV star died in an apparent suicide.
Ransone’s death was then confirmed on Sunday publicly by TMZ.
What movies and TV shows is James Ransone known for?
Ransone got his big career break co-starring in teen drama Ken Park in 2002, and soon landed a role in HBO’s The Wire, which earned him critical acclaim.
Other credits include 2008 miniseries Generation Kill, comedy How To Make It In America, HBO drama Treme (2011) and AMC’s Low Winter Sun (2013), plus appearances in Law & Order, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Third Watch, and, most recently, Poker Face.
On the big screen, he had roles as Eddie Kaspbrak in 2019’s It Chapter Two – the sequel to 2017’s Stephen King adaptation – while his final film roles saw him reprise the part of Max in supernatural horror film Black Phone 2.
Aside from his film career, Ransone was open about his personal struggles over the years, and in 2021, he wrote on Instagram that he had been sexually abused by his maths tutor growing up in Maryland in 1992.
He said the abuse led to ‘a lifetime of shame and embarrassment,’ and, by age 27, Ransone had developed an addiction to heroin and $30,000 (£23k) of debt.
He got sober in 2007 and reported his childhood abuse to the police in March 2020, but it’s alleged that prosecutors told him there would be no investigation.
He was later praised after saving a woman from being sexually assaulted outside his apartment in New York, as he grabbed a metal bar after hearing her screams, and ran towards the attacker.
‘I did what anybody would have done,’ he said after the confrontation. ‘I pictured my mum, my girlfriend and every girl I’ve ever loved and thought, “Vengeance is mine.”‘
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