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Bill Nunn, Versatile Actor Best Known As ‘Radio Raheem’ In Spike Lee’s ‘Do The Right Thing,’ Dead At 62

By Phyllis Asinyanbi
Published on: 09:01 PST, Sep 25, 2016

Bill Nunn, a versatile actor, who is probably best known for his role as Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing, died Saturday at his home in Pittsburgh. His wife, Donna, said that he had been battling cancer. He was 62.

William Goldwyn “Bill Nunn III was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 20, 1953, and came from a family where achievements were commonplace. His father, William G. Nunn Jr., was a writer and editor for the renowned Pittsburgh Courier. Bill Nunn’s paternal grandfather had the distinction of being the first black football player at George Westinghouse High School.

Nunn graduated from Schenley High School in 1970 and Morehouse College, an Atlanta historically black university, in 1976. College was when Nunn decided that acting was his passion. Prior to the epiphany, he considered majoring in Political Science but decided on English, he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2007.

“I didn’t know what the heck I wanted to do really. When I got that theater bug that was my heart. That’s what I found I had a passion for.”

CNN reported that another Morehouse graduate, film director Spike Lee, gave Nunn his first big break as Grady in School Daze. The film explored the issue of colorism in the African American community. In 1989, only one year later, Nunn portrayed his most recognizable character, Radio Raheem, in Do the Right Thing.

Spike Lee paid tribute to his long-time friend and fellow Morehouse alumnus via Instagram.

The film revolved around the racial tensions in the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn neighborhood. The neighborhood is filled with distinct characters. One is Sal, an Italian, and owner of a pizzeria in a mostly black and Puerto Rican area. Sal has two sons, one who hates blacks, and the restaurant wall, known as the “Wall of Fame,” is covered with pictures of famous Italians.

Radio Raheem, who always carries a super-sized boom box that repeatedly plays Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” frequents Sal’s. He and another neighborhood eccentric, Buggin’ Out, enter the pizzeria demanding that the owner include African Americans on the Wall of Fame. Sal shouts at Radio Raheem, commanding him to turn off the boom box, and when he doesn’t, Sal destroys it with a bat.

Raheem then chokes Sal, and the fight spills into the street. The police arrive, and although Raheem is pulled off Sal, who survives, one police officer places a chokehold on Raheem, killing him. Multiple officers place Raheem in the back of the squad car, leaving Sal and his two sons at the mercy of a rioting crowd who witnessed the murder.

Warning: The below film scene is violent, and viewer discretion is advised.

Lee won an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Do the Right Thing, which is considered to be one of the best films of all time. Nunn went on to act in other Lee films, such as Mo’ Better Blues and He Got Game.

He worked with other directors, and another acclaimed role was Duh Duh Duh Man, the stuttering bodyguard, in New Jack City. Nunn was also a favorite as Joseph “Robbie” Robertson in the Spider Man trilogy.

Other notable roles were in Regarding Henry; Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead; Sister Act, and Firehouse Dog. The beloved actor also appeared on television in The Job and a televised adaptation of the classic, A Raisin in the Sun.

Nunn is survived by his wife and two daughters.

[Featured Image by Keith Srakocic/AP Images]

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