Actor Bobby J. Brown, best known for his role as Officer Bobby Brown in the hit HBO series The Wire, has died at age 62.
His daughter confirmed his death to TMZ, saying he died Tuesday (Feb 24) after getting caught in a barn fire in Maryland, United States.
The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told the Daily News it had received the body of a Robert Joseph Brown, who died from diffuse thermal injury and smoke inhalation. His death was determined to be an accident.
His body was reportedly badly burned, though his daughter said she believes the wounds were incurred after he’d already succumbed to the smoke and heat.
According to TMZ, Brown’s death occurred as he was trying to jumpstart a vehicle inside the barn and somehow a blaze got ignited. He reportedly yelled out to family member for a fire extinguisher, but the structure was already engulfed in the flames by the time they reached him.
The outlet said his wife also suffered severe burns while trying to save Brown.
The Washington, D.C. native appeared in a dozen episodes of The Wire, according to IMDb.
He often played a police officer, with other credits including cop roles on the Emmy-winning miniseries The Corner, three episodes of Law & Order: SVU and in the 2019 film Miss Virginia, starring Uzo Aduba, among other projects.
In 2022, he notably played Baltimore Police Sergeant Thomas Allers in the HBO miniseries We Own This City. He portrayed the real-life officer who in 2018 was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for his leadership of the brazenly corrupt Gun Trace Task Force.
In addition to his work in front of the camera, Brown also directed two documentaries.
Off The Chain, which he also wrote, explores the evolution of the American Pit Bull Terrier and the abusive underground world of dog fighting. According to Brown’s bio on IMDb, he donated one-third of the film’s sales to the Humane Society to protect the breed.
His second documentary, Tear The Roof Off: The Untold Story of Parliament-Funkadelic, reveals the secrets of the “rise and fall of the greatest funk band ever,” per the film’s description.
Prior to Brown’s career in film and TV, he was a formidable boxer who won five amateur Golden Glove titles. He was said to have become interested in acting while fighting at casinos in Atlantic City, near where Mickey Rourke was filming the 1988 boxing flick Homeboy. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
