Dan Ziskie has died. A veteran New York actor with nearly 100 credits to his name, Ziskie was best known for appearances in shows like Treme and House Of Cards, which happily tapped into his talents for portraying buttoned-up, stentorian types. (See also a memorable appearance on an episode of Chappelle’s Show, in which he played the aggressively white patriarch of the sitcom-living Niggar family.) In addition to his career as an actor, Ziskie also spent much of his life pursuing photography as a passion; he published a book of photographs, Cloud Chamber, in 2017. Per THR, Ziskie died back on July 21 from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He was 80.
Born and raised in Detroit, Ziskie originally pursued a vocation as a journalist before pivoting to acting, including early performances at Chicago’s Second City Theater. (He was a contemporary of folks like John Belushi and Brian Doyle-Murray.) He eventually gravitated to New York, where he worked professionally for most of his career, appearing in TV, occasional movies, and on the Broadway stage. (Take it as read that he would eventually achieve the triple crown of the working New York actor: Appearing on three separate Law And Order series, showing up in 10 different episodes of the franchise from 1995 to 2007.) Although he worked regularly from 1980 onward, Ziskie’s career seemed to pick up as he aged into roles that made use of his knack for projecting authority; his latter-day resumé is filled with senators, commissioners, and, memorably the part of Vice President Jim Matthews—one of the first elected officials to fall prey to Frank Underwood’s machinations—in early Netflix breakout House Of Cards.
Ziskie picked up one of the most regular roles of his long career in 2011, when David Simon cast him in his wide-ranging look at post-Katrina New Orleans, Treme. As moneyman C.J. Ligouri, Ziskie was able to tap into many of his greatest talents as an actor: A blend of warmth and the confidence of being one of the masters of the world, speaking eloquently (if with slight shades of menace) about “fixing” the city in the wake of the massive disaster. Ziskie ultimately appeared across the last three seasons of the series, never in a truly central role, but always lurking somewhere, the affable face of “urban renewal” in all its many forms.
Post-Treme, Ziskie continued to work regularly in TV up through 2021, appearing on shows like Blindspot, Blue Bloods, and more. His family memorialized him in his obituary, calling him, “a man of remarkable talent and a keen observer of life. He was as vibrant and multifaceted as the characters he portrayed on stage and screen.”
