Ed Wheeler, a Brooklyn-born actor known for “Law & Order,” “Blue Bloods” and many other films and TV series, has died at age 88.
Wheeler’s wife, Messeret Stroman Wheeler, told Deadline his cause of death was respiratory failure due to complications from pneumonia. She said he died Aug. 21 at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey.
Wheeler was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 18, 1936. After serving in the Army, he played basketball at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University). He then worked as a hairstylist and at United Airlines before catching the acting bug.
He got his start acting in commercials in the 1970s for brands like Reynolds Wrap, Sudafed, Pepcid AC, and many others, becoming “one of the first Black men used by Madison Avenue to have started the trend towards mustache acceptance,” according to an online obituary.
He made his film debut in 1987’s “Broadcast News” with Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter. He went on to appear in such films as “Presumed Innocent,” “Daylight,” “Godzilla” and “Mickey Blue Eyes.”
He also appeared in a number of TV shows including “Law & Order,” “Third Watch,” “Hope & Faith” and “One Life to Live.” His last onscreen credit was a 2010 episode of “Blue Bloods.”
Wheeler also acted in theater productions as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company. For his work on the stage, he received the Living Legend Award from the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 2017.
Wheeler “is survived by his loving wife, Messeret, Mother-in-love, Jacqueline, Brother-in-love, Marlon, Father-in-love, McTate, cherished nieces and nephews, Steve(Janice), Sharon(Lorenzo), Audrey(Will), Ken(Vida), Billy(Michelle), Phyllis(Ken) and Shirley(Paris), cousin Randy as well as a host of extended family and friends,” according to his obituary.