Cat Power pays emotional tribute to James ‘PJ’ Ransone: “The young man who taught me how to say I love you”

Cat Power has paid tribute to James ‘PJ’ Ransone, who died last week aged 46.

Ransone, who starred in The Wire, Generation Kill, and It Chapter Two, died Friday (December 19) by suicide, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s Office. He was found by police at his home.

Power took to Instagram yesterday (December 23) to share a tribute to the late actor, known as PJ to friends, referring to him as “The young man who taught me how to say, I love you.”

“I love you, he would say, so easily, heart on his sleeve, while searching,” she wrote. “I love you, I would hear, I love you, I would hear myself answer back to him.”

She continued: “Everyone else seemed so masked, so involved in their view… myself included. He brightened every corner and looked for purpose and intention behind your words.”

Power goes on to write: “I remember in 2001 when I was feverishly struggling, you gave me an old torn up book of William Blake. His writings and drawings and paintings affixed me to a mirror place, a vortex I can still see. The inbetween, the injustice of the unknown.”

View this post on Instagram

“Wherever you have stepped away to, I know the miracles are explained now,” she added. “I know all the mysteries are open and flowing and now, there is much work to be done.”

“I am here, working too, we are all awakened to any messages, now or later. Thank you for your gifts, your light hearted ease in loving. We will carry you along, we love you and are always here with you,” she wrote.

Ransone’s wife Jamie, known as Skipper, also shared a tribute on Instagram. “I told you I have loved you 1000 times before and I know I will love you again,” she wrote. “You told me – I need to be more like you and you need to be more like me – and you were so right. Thank you for giving me the greatest gifts – you, Jack and Violet. We are forever.”

A GoFundMe page has also been set up to help the family, which reads: “James, who his friends called PJ, was funny, magnetic, brilliant, and endlessly alive. Above all else, he was an extraordinary father.

“His wife, Jamie, known by her friends as Skipper, and their children, Jack and Violet, were the center of his world,” it continues. “They loved him infinitely, and he loved them just as fiercely in return. Their bond was deep, joyful, and unmistakable to anyone who witnessed it.”

Ransone’s breakout role was as dock worker Ziggy Sobotka in season two of HBO’s hit show The Wire in 2003. Five years later, he appeared alongside Alexander Skarsgård in the miniseries Generation Kill as real-life Marine Cpl. Josh Ray Person.

He was known for his performances in horror movies, including Sinister, Sinister 2, In a Valley of Violence, Black Phone, and Black Phone 2, which was his final project.

For help and advice on mental health:

• ‘Am I depressed?‘ – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably for young men
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day

The post Cat Power pays emotional tribute to James ‘PJ’ Ransone: “The young man who taught me how to say I love you” appeared first on NME.