Jay Landsman

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This article is about the actor and detective. For the fictional character, see Jay Landsman (The Wire).

Jay Landsman is a retired homicide detective and actor. He was featured in David Simon's book about the Baltimore homicide unit Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. According to the book, Landsman was the last of his family line on the Baltimore Police Force. His brother Jerry was a detective on the force who left in the 1980s and their father was the force's first Jewish district commander.^[1]

Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman as Dennis Mello
Occupation	Television actor

The book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch (also Jewish) on that show^[2] and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance on the HBO miniseries The Corner. He most recently appeared on The Wire as Dennis Mello. Michael Chabon's protagonist "Detective Landsman," in The Yiddish Policemen's Union is an homage to Landsman.

[edit] References

^ Simon, David [1991] (2006). "One", Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, 4th, Owl Books, 85. ISBN 0-8050-8075-9. “His father had retired with a lieutenant's rank as acting commander of the Northwestern district, the first Jewish officer to rise to a district command on a predominantly Irish force.”
^ Simon, David (1991, 2006). Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. New York: Owl Books, photo insert section.