Reg E. Cathey

---

title: "Reg E. Cathey" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1958-births", "2018-deaths", "20th-century-african-american-male-actors", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-african-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "american-expatriate-male-actors-in-germany", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-stage-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "deaths-from-lung-cancer-in-new-york-(state)", "male-actors-from-huntsville,-alabama", "primetime-emmy-award-winners", "university-of-michigan-school-of-music,-theatre-&-dance-alumni"] description: "American actor (1958–2018)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_E._Cathey" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (1958–2018) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Reg E. Cathey
image	Reg E. Cathey.jpg
caption	Cathey in 2016
birth_name	Reginald Eurias Cathey
birth_date
birth_place	Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
death_date
death_place	New York City, U.S.
education	University of Michigan (BFA)
Yale University (MFA)
years_active	1984–2018
occupation	Actor
::

| name = Reg E. Cathey | image = Reg E. Cathey.jpg | caption = Cathey in 2016 | image_size = | birth_name = Reginald Eurias Cathey | birth_date = | birth_place = Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = New York City, U.S. | education = University of Michigan (BFA) Yale University (MFA) | years_active = 1984–2018 | occupation = Actor

Reginald Eurias Cathey (August 18, 1958 – February 9, 2018) was an American character actor. He was best known for various roles on the children's math show Square One Television, as well as Norman Wilson in The Wire, Martin Querns in Oz, Freddy Hayes in House of Cards. The latter garnered him three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, including a win in 2015.

Early life

Cathey was born on August 18, 1958, in Huntsville, Alabama, to Red Cathey, an Army colonel who fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and his wife, who was a DOD worker and an educator. He had a sister, Donza. He spent his childhood with his family on a rural farm in West Germany before returning to Alabama at the age of 14. His interest in theater began at age 9, after attending a United Service Organization show in West Germany. Cathey graduated from J.O. Johnson High School, where he acted in plays such as To Kill a Mockingbird. He subsequently studied theatre at the University of Michigan and the Yale School of Drama.

Career

Cathey's breakout role was on Children's Television Workshop's Square One Television, a math-oriented children's TV series. The program aired on PBS from 1987 to 1992. Cathey was not only the game show announcer but had many bit parts in the various sketches and performed songs like "Nine, Nine, Nine" and "Rappin' Judge". Cathey later referred to the cast as the "Not Ready for Prime-Time Mathematicians".

This was followed by guest roles in such series as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Homicide: Life on the Street. In 1994, he appeared in The Mask as Freeze, the main antagonist's friend and bodyguard who gets inadvertently killed by the title character. He also appeared in 1995's Se7en as the coroner. He played the villain Dirty Dee in the cult comedy film Pootie Tang and had a regular role on the HBO series The Wire as Norman Wilson during the fourth and fifth seasons. He also worked with The Wire creator David Simon on the Emmy Award-winning miniseries The Corner; Cathey played a drug addict known as Scalio. He had a recurring role on the HBO prison drama Oz as unit manager Martin Querns. In the film Tank Girl, he played the role of Deetee. He narrated Aftermath: Population Zero, a National Geographic Channel special which imagines what Earth might be like if humanity no longer existed. He played the homeless man Al, murdered by Patrick Bateman, in the film American Psycho. He narrated TLC's Wonders of Weather, a TV series. On Between the Lions, he played King Ray in the story of "Rumpelstiltskin" in the episode, "Hay Day".

In 2009, Cathey performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

In Fall 2009, Cathey played the role of Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding in a theatrical production of The Shawshank Redemption at Wyndham's Theatre, London. He has made two guest appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as an undercover police officer involved with animal smuggling (episode: "Wildlife") and later as a high-priced defense attorney to a hooker (episode: "Rhodium Nights"). He also made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Criminal Intent in the episode "Anti-Thesis" as a college professor suspected of murder. He also played boxing promoter Barry K. Word on the FX series Lights Out.

In 2013, Cathey began a recurring role as Freddy Hayes, the owner of Freddy's BBQ, in Netflix's original series House of Cards, as well as on Grimm, in the recurring role of Baron Samedi. His portrayal of Hayes in the second, third, and fourth seasons of House of Cards earned three Emmy nominations and one win for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

Cathey had expressed a wish to appear in the Irish soap opera Fair City.

Cathey co-starred in Josh Trank's Fantastic Four (2015), as Dr. Franklin Storm, the father of The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch. He also played the county sheriff in the city of Rome, WV, in the Cinemax series Outcast. One of Cathey's final TV roles was portraying James Lucas in the Netflix series Marvel's Luke Cage.

Death

Cathey died at his home in New York City on February 9, 2018, at the age of 59. He was reported to have had lung cancer. He was cremated, and his ashes were spread in New York City.TMZ 'House of Cards' Star Reg E. Cathey Left Behind Nearly $500,000". TMZ. June 18, 2018.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Funny Farm	Reporter #2	title=Filmography for Reg E.Cathey
Crossing Delancey	Cab Driver
Ich und Er	Waiter
1989	Penn & Teller Get Killed	Fan's Friend
Born on the Fourth of July	Speaker
1990	Loose Cannons	Willie
Quick Change	Sound Analyst
Astonished	Wayne
1991	What About Bob?	Howie Katrell
1994	Clean Slate	1st Cop
The Mask	Freeze	Credited as Reginald E. Cathy
Clear and Present Danger	Sergeant-Major
Airheads	Marcus
The Hard Truth	Shotgun cop
1995	Napoleon	Frog	Voice, English version
Tank Girl	Deetee
Se7en	Dr. Santiago
1997	Ill Gotten Gains	Nassor
2000	American Psycho	Homeless Man
2001	Pootie Tang	Dirty Dee
2003	Head of State	Officer Waters
A Good Night to Die	Avi
S.W.A.T.	Lt. Greg Velasquez
2004	The Machinist	Jones
Everyday People	Akbar
Men Without Jobs	Mr. Morgan
The Cookout	Frank Washington
2006	508 Nelson	Frank Harmon
2008	20 Years After	Samuel
Patsy	Dr. Joshua
2011	My Last Day Without You	Pastor Johnson
2012	Arbitrage	Earl Monroe
The Normals	Rodney
Sampling	Leonard	Short
2014	Two Men in Town	Supervisor Jones
Alex of Venice	Walt
St. Vincent	Gus
2015	Nasty Baby	The Bishop
Sweet Kandy	Curtis Coleson
Fantastic Four	Dr. Franklin Storm
2016	Hands of Stone	Don King
2017	Flock of Four	Pope Dixon
2018	Tyrel	Reggie
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	A Doctor's Story	Richie	Television movie
1987	Spenser: For Hire	Shepard	Episode: "The Man Who Wasn't There"
1987–1992	Square One Television	Various	240 episodes
1988–1989	Sesame Street	Blue Bird (voice only)	2 episodes
1990	Great Performances	Guildenstern	Episode: "Hamlet"
1991	Eyes of a Witness	Prosecutor	Television movie
1992	Fool's Fire	Minister Gunther	Television movie
1993	And the Band Played On	Staff doctor #2	Television movie
Star Trek: The Next Generation	Morag	Episode: "Aquiel"
1994	Roc	Fred	Episode: "The Concert"
1995	Tyson	Attorney Winston	Television movie
1996	ER	IAD Investigator David Haskell	Episode: "Take These Broken Wings"
1997–1998	Arli$$	Alvin Epps	3 episodes
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Bernard Weeks	Episode: "Full Court Press"
2000	The Corner	Scalio	6 episodes
Homicide: The Movie	Bernard Weeks	Television movie
2000–2003	Oz	Martin Querns	8 episodes
2001	Boycott	E.D. Nixon	Television movie
2002	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Professor Roland Sanders	Episode: "Anti-Thesis"
Between the Lions	Himself	Episode: "Hay Day"
2004	Law & Order	Gerald	Episode: "Darwinian"
The Jury	Mr. Grove	Episode: "Mail Order Mystery"
2005	Third Watch	Jaime Castro	Episode: "Welcome Home"
2006–2008	The Wire	Norman Wilson	23 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Victor Tybor	Episode: "Wildlife"
2009	Une aventure New-Yorkaise	Marcus	Television movie
2010	30 Rock	Rutherford Rice	Episode: "Let's Stay Together"
Inside the Milky Way	Narrator	Documentary Film
2011	Earth: Making of a Planet	Narrator	Documentary Film
Lights Out	Barry K. Word	12 episodes
2012	Person of Interest	Davidson	Episode: "Blue Code"
2012–2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Barry Querns	4 episodes
2013	Grimm	The Baron / Baron Samedi	3 episodes
2013–2016	House of Cards	Freddy Hayes	15 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (2015)
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (2014, 2016)
2014	Banshee Origins	Det. Julius Bonner	3 episodes
Banshee	2 episodes
The Divide	Uncle Bobby	5 episodes
2015	The Good Wife	Judge Aaron Coleman	Episode: "The Deconstruction"
Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter	Dad	2 episodes
Masters of the Clock: The Legend of Martinsville	Narrator	Television movie
2016	The Blacklist	The Caretaker	Episode: "The Caretaker (No. 78)"
Horace and Pete	Harold	2 episodes
Inside Amy Schumer	Congressman #2	Episode: "The World's Most Interesting Woman in the World"
Adviser	Episode: "Madame President"
2016–2017	Outcast	Chief Byron Giles	20 episodes
2017	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	Zakariyya Lacks	Television movie
2018	Elementary	Mr. Clay	Episode: "Our Time Is Up"; posthumous release
Luke Cage	James Lucas	7 episodes; posthumous release
Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure	Captain Quaid	Voice, 2 episodes; posthumous release
::

Video games

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1997	D.A. Pursuit of Justice	Courtwatcher
2013	Star Wars: The Old Republic – Rise of the Hutt Cartel	Additional Voices
::

References

References

1. Radloff, Jessica. (13 September 2015). "Darren Criss Talks Glee, Derek Hough Wins His Second Emmy, and More News From the Creative Arts Emmys". Glamour.
2. Brockington, Ariana. (February 9, 2018). "Reg Cathey, 'House of Cards' and 'The Wire' Actor, Dies at 59". Variety.
3. [http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2015/09/17/emmy-university-of-michigan-house-of-cards-reg-e-cathey/32553713/ U-M alum Reg E. Cathey on his 'House of Cards' Emmy] Julie Hinds. [[Detroit Free Press]]. September 18, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015
4. Russell, Yvonna. (6 December 2017). "Everyman: Actor Reg E. Cathey". The Huffington Post}}{{Dead link.
5. Ellis-Petersen, Hannah. (3 June 2016). "Reg E Cathey: 'The world is being destroyed by psychopaths'". The Guardian.
6. Stevens, Matt. (9 February 2018). "Reg E. Cathey, Actor on 'House of Cards' and 'The Wire,' Dies at 59". The New York Times.
7. (April 11, 2008). "The Wire: Out of Character with Reg E. Cathey (HBO)". YouTube.
8. (13 February 2018). "Reg E. Cathey, 59, actor". Philly.
9. Kezo, Jeannie. (September 20, 2007). "A New World on the Huntsville Horizon". Valley Planet.
10. Hughes, William. (February 10, 2018). "R.I.P. Reg E. Cathey, from The Wire and House Of Cards".
11. Sandford, Maggie Ryan. (June 21, 2013). "Remember Square One?".
12. "Reg E. Cathey Biography".
13. "Square One: Nine Nine Nine".
14. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=11825DE3E0296DD0&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=2 From Huntsville to Hollywood]". ''The Huntsville Times''. December 10, 1993.
15. (March 20, 2012). "The Wire: Homepage". HBO.
16. (December 12, 2009). "Entertainment: The People Speak". Los Angeles Times.
17. Billington, Michael. (September 13, 2009). "Review: The Shawshank Redemption". The Guardian.
18. "Lights Out - Full Cast & Crew".
19. (July 10, 2014). "Alabama ties: Tony Hale, Laverne Cox, Reg E. Cathey among nominees for 2014 Emmy Awards". Al.com.
20. (June 3, 2009). "The Wire star hopes to appear in Fair City". Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
21. Siegel, Tatiana. "[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/foxs-fantastic-four-reboot-adds-702328 Fox's 'Fantastic Four' Reboot Adds 'The Wire's' Reg E. Cathey]". ''The Hollywood Reporter''. May 8, 2014.
22. Lammers, Timothy. (February 10, 2018). "Reg E. Cathey's Final Role Was Playing Luke Cage's Father in Season 2".
23. (10 February 2018). "Reg E. Cathey, actor on House Of Cards and The Wire, dies at 59, Entertainment News & Top Stories". Elite News 24.
24. Staff, T. M. Z.. (February 9, 2018). "'House of Cards' Star Reg E. Cathey Dead From Cancer at 59".
25. "Filmography for Reg E.Cathey".
26. "Reg E. Cathey - MobyGames". [[MobyGames.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::