Louis Gossett Jr, the primary Black man to win a greatest supporting actor Oscar for his efficiency as a hard-man drill teacher in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has died. He was 87.
Gossett’s household mentioned he died Thursday night time in Los Angeles with out stating the trigger, a number of U.S. media shops together with CBS News reported.
Gossett appeared in additional than 60 films, and in 1983 grew to become the third Black actor — after Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier — to win an Academy Award, for his supporting position as a stern gunnery sergeant in Taylor Hackford’s “An Officer and a Gentleman.”
The film additionally netted the actor a Golden Globe, and he later picked up one other supporting actor Globe for “The Josephine Baker Story,” in addition to an Emmy for the eight-part smash-hit ABC miniseries “Roots.”
The New York native, who introduced in 2010 that he had prostate most cancers, cultivated a troublesome man picture that paid dividends in a slew of motion films, together with “Iron Eagle” (1986) and “The Punisher” (1989).
Gossett chronicled his painful experiences as a trailblazing Black actor in his memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman,” together with his first journey to Los Angeles within the Sixties when he was pulled over by police 4 occasions throughout a single automotive journey.
“The only time I was really free was when the director said ‘action’ in front of a camera or on the stage and that’s when I flew,” he advised The LA Times in 2008.
Divorced from his third spouse in 1992, Gossett lived in Malibu, California and raised two sons.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 27, 1936, and lower his enamel on stage, showing in “Take a Giant Step,” which was chosen as one of many 10 greatest Broadway reveals of 1953 by The New York Times.
He gained a component within the 1959 Broadway manufacturing of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” earlier than making his Hollywood debut alongside Poitier within the movie model two years later.
His different credit embrace “The Deep,” “Blue Chips,” “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “Firewalker” and “Jaws-3D.”
Gossett Jr got here to large consideration on the small display, profitable an Emmy for his flip because the slave Fiddler in “Roots,” a cultural phenomenon that drew greater than 100 million viewers for its finale in January 1977.
He was nominated for tv’s prime prize six extra occasions, together with for his portrayal of Anwar Sadat within the 1983 miniseries “Sadat.”
He advised leisure trade bible Variety in 2015 that his position within the TV film because the Egyptian chief who made peace with Israel was his favourite.
“It was a challenge to play someone with history like that. His spirit was very much like Mandela’s. He transitioned from a hawk to a dove,” he mentioned.
He continued to work properly into his 70s, showing briefly on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and CBS reveals “Extant” and “Madam Secretary,” in addition to NBC’s “ER” and HBO superhero sequence “Watchmen.”
“In our eyes, you were a LEADING man despite your many inspiring roles as supporting characters. Thank you for your undeniable talent,” civil rights legal professional Ben Crump mentioned on X, previously Twitter.
Gossett Jr’s representatives didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
© 2024 AFP