"The Wire" and "ER" writer David Mills dies

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - David Mills, an Emmy Award-winning television writer who contributed to dramas "The Wire" and "ER," has died at age 48 after apparently suffering a brain aneurysm, HBO said on Wednesday.

Mills fell ill on Tuesday night in New Orleans on the set of upcoming HBO drama "Treme," people involved in the show said in a statement provided by HBO.

He lost consciousness and died at a hospital, and doctors said it appeared he had a brain aneurysm, according to the statement.

"HBO is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our dear friend and colleague David Mills," HBO said in a statement.

"He was a gracious and humble man, and will be sorely missed by those who knew and loved him, as well as those who were aware of his immense talent," the network said.

Mills wrote for the Washington Post in the early 1990s, reporting on race and popular culture for the Style Section.

He later wrote episodes for TV police dramas "NYPD Blue" and "Homicide: Life on the Street" and hospital series "ER," all during the 1990s.

Mills wrote episodes of the critically acclaimed series "The Wire" in 2006 and 2007, a show created by writer and producer David Simon that took a gritty look at Baltimore's drug trade, police force, newspaper business and bureaucracy.

"Treme," a show about New Orleans in the wake of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, was Mills' latest project. The program, which he produced along with Simon, will debut on April 11.

Mills won a pair of prime-time Emmy Awards in 2000 for his work on TV miniseries "The Corner," another show from Simon, a former journalist who worked with Mills on the student newspaper at the University of Maryland in the 1980s.

Mills, who was born in Washington, D.C. but lived in Los Angeles in recent years, is survived by siblings Blanche Carroll, Gloria Johnson and Franklin Mills.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)