Actor known for Spike Lee films

NEW YORK — Bill Nunn, a veteran character actor whose credits ranged from the Spider-Man movie franchise to such Spike Lee films as Do the Right Thing and He Got Game, has died.

He was 63 and had been battling cancer.

A longtime Pittsburgh resident and graduate of Morehouse College, Lee’s alma mater, Nunn broke through in movies in the late 1980s, first in Lee’s School Daze, then in the Oscar-nominated Do the Right Thing, as the ill-fated Radio Raheem, who dies when choked by police during a street brawl in Brooklyn.

Nunn, who stood well over six feet tall, went on to appear in dozens of films and TV programs, including New Jack City, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Sirens.

Nunn was the son of a prominent Pittsburgh Steelers scout, also named Bill Nunn, and befriended future Steelers president Art Rooney II while both worked as ballboys for the NFL team.