Granville Adams, who starred in all six seasons of the acclaimed HBO series Oz, died on Sunday, Oz star Kirk Acevedo announced. Adams was 58. The actor announced he was diagnosed with cancer in December 2020, reports TMZ. He is survived by his wife, Christina.
“I lost my brotha today after a long battle with cancer,” Acevedo tweeted Sunday. “I don’t do well with loss because I’m unfamiliar with it. Yo Granny we’ll be chopping it up on the other side one day. Until then… Rest easy my friend.” The actor noted that his dressing room was right next to Adams’ during production on Oz, and shared a fun story about a July 4th party with Adams.
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“PlayStation threw us a party in the Hampton’s on July 4th. We were lit Woozy face before we even made it out of NYC,” Acavedo wrote. “I threw Granny in the Pool with his clothes on & phone in his pocket. Then we played basketball sopping wet & [Harold Perrineau] tried 2 dunk the ball & popped his Achilles. The whole time Granny and I are telling Harold, ‘Nah! You good son! That’s just a sprained ankle!’ No one wanted to go to the hospital we were having so much fun. We kept giving Harold liquor all weekend. Fun times!”
Back on Dec. 5, Adams shared a photo from his hospital bed on Instagram, adding the caption, “F— cancer.” A few weeks later, he posted a photo of an X-ray showing he snapped his left femur. Adams shared his last Instagram post on July 29. “135 pounds of post radiation badness,” he wrote in the caption.
After Adams announced his diagnosis, Oz showrunner Tom Fontana and actor Dean Winters launched a GoFundMe page to help Adams’ family. “Since Granville hasn’t been able to work for the past year, all the donations from this campaign will go directly to Granville and Christina’s account to help them pay the onslaught of bills that have been piling up; medical, rent, utilities, etc.,” Fontana wrote. The fun has raised almost $100,000 for Adams’ family.
On Sunday, Fontana also shared a photo of Adams on his Instagram page. “Goodnight, sweet prince/and flights of angels sing thee to they rest,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry. What an amazing soul,” David Zayas, who also acted in Oz, wrote.
Adams starred as Zahir Arif in Oz, first as a guest star in the first two seasons. He was promoted to recurring actor for the final four seasons. The prison drama ran from 1997 to 2003 and was HBO’s first hour-long dramatic series. Before acting in Oz, Adams had a recurring part as Officer Jeff Westby on Homicide: Life on the Streets from 1996 to 2000. He also starred in Homicide: The Movie in 2000. His last credit was the 2011 movie Magic City Memoirs, according to his IMDb page.
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