Mike Hodge, an actor who appeared in recurring roles on “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and was the president of SAG-AFTRA’s New York chapter, died Saturday night. He was 70.
The union’s first VP of the New York chapter, Rebecca Damon, announced the news Sunday on Facebook, writing: “For me, and I am sure for many of you who were his closest friends, this is particularly heartbreaking as we have lost not just a president, but a father figure and a big brother. Mike was a towering presence whose kindness and good nature made each of us better.”
Read the complete announcement below.
Hodge, who was born in McComas, West Virginia, made his television debut in 1995 on the ABC daytime soap opera “Loving” playing a police officer, a career he portrayed on camera numerous times.
His film career included director Kathryn Bigelow’s “Blue Steel,” Brian De Palma’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” Barbra Streisand’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces” and the Ron Howard’s “Ransom.”
His last appearance on camera was in the Elliott Gould comedy, “Humor Me,” which is currently in postproduction.
Hodge was a union activist for many years and secured a SAG national board seat in 2000. A decade later, he was elected president of the union’s local New York chapter. He secured an additional two-year term last month, winning 66 percent of the vote.