Academy AwardwinnerLouis Gossett Jr., best known for his celebrated work inRootsandAn Officer and a Gentleman, hasdied. He was 87.
TheAssociated Presswas first to report news of Gossett’s death after the actor’s nephew told the outlet that he died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death has yet been revealed.
Born in New York City, Gossett got his acting start on Broadway inTake a Giant Stepin 1953 — when he was still a student at Abraham Lincoln High School. As he explained in a 1991conversation with Bob Costas, he had “a pretty promising career in high school.”
“‘They’re looking for a young, Black kid to play a lead in a Broadway show calledTake a Giant Step. They can’t find anybody in the business, so they’re going to the high schools. ‘Tell your mother to take you down there,'” he recalled being told. “So, that’s how I got in show business.”
Louis Gossett Jr. attends the HollyRod 20th Annual DesignCare in 2018.Tiffany Rose/Getty
Tiffany Rose/Getty
“I was in awe of that man — his experience and strength,” Gossett told PEOPLE of the late Sidney Poitier in 2024. “I supported him, and he supported me.”
At the beginning of his film career in the 1960s, Gossett also performed as a folk musician (“I passed the brass playing in the coffee shops down in the Village,” he told PEOPLE) and played sports. He even turned down a potential professional basketball stint to focus on acting. “I was at rookie training for the [New York] Knicks when I got a call from Lorraine Hansberry to be a part ofA Raisin in the Sun,” Gossetttold PEOPLE.
Lou Gossett Jr. photographed in 1985.Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
“They said the part comes with a $700 per diem, more money than most professional athletes had in the bank at the time. I put the basketball down, and the rest is history," he added.
After moving to Los Angeles in the ’60s to focus on film and television, his next breakthrough role came in 1977, when he played Fiddler inRoots, earning an Emmy award for outstanding lead actor in a single appearance in a drama or comedy series. He later admitted that he was initially hesitant to take the gig.
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Louis Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere in 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman.Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
“I said, ‘Well, how come they saved the ‘Uncle Tom’ [role], for me?’ I hide the insult that hit me in the pit of my stomach,” Gossett toldScreenRantof being offered the role. “Then I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to turn this down, because I want to be part of this thing…. It’s a challenge to bring that resurrection character as a survivor in America, who does not remember being a slave, for him to survive. Without Fiddler, Kunta Kinte does not exist.”
AfterRoots, Gossett enjoyed big-screen success with his role as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in 1982’sAn Officer and a Gentleman.The film earned Gossett an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — making him the first Black performer to win the Supporting Actor Oscar.
“They had hired another actor who was White, but when director Taylor Hackford found out that 75% of the Marine DI’s were Black, they paid him off and hired me. I went down to San Diego Marine Corps to learn for six weeks,” he told PEOPLE in 2024. “When I showed up on set, I was a marine.”
As for the Oscar win, Gossett recalled in aCBS Sunday Morninginterview that he didn’t believe it at first, and that his agent “hit me on my chest and said, ‘They mentioned your name.'”
“And I looked at him because I thought I was asleep. And I looked around and there was applause,” he said. “Not supposed to be possible. So I said thank you. That’s a piece of history.”
Susan Sarandon, Christopher Reeves and Louis Gossett Jr. appear at the 1982 Academy Awards.Getty
Getty
In the ’80s and ’90s, Gossett appeared in a number of films and series, includingJaws 3-D,Enemy Mine,The Principal,Sadat,Iron Eagle, the Marvel-comic based filmThe Punisher,Toy Soldiers,A Good Man in AfricaandBlue Chips. He also hostedSaturday Night Livein 1982.
Gossett revisited his stage roots later in his career, appearing as Billy Flynn inChicagoin 1996.
One of Gossett’s most notable later roles was as Will Reeves in HBO’s 2019 limited seriesWatchmen.The acclaimed show earned several awards following its brief, nine-episode run, including 11 Emmys. He toldPage Sixin 2020 that he didn’t “know what the real answer is” in terms of why the show was not renewed.
In 2023, Gossett took on the role of Mister Johnson inThe Color Purple, and as he explained in 2024, he was “still here" with no plans to retire. “God must have something left for me to do," he told PEOPLE.
“As long as I’m here, there’s a job to do for the benefit of us all,” Gossett previously told CBS Sunday Morning. “For what it’s worth.”
source: people.com
