Louis Gossett Jr., the first black man to win an Oscar for his supporting role and an Emmy winner for his role in the TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87 years old.
He wrote extensively about the fact that he suffered racial discrimination and harassment from the police at the beginning of his career, according to News.ro.
Gossett first broke through on Broadway stages before landing major roles on both the big and small screens – although winning an Oscar in 1983 wasn’t the golden ticket to leading roles, as it is for many other stars. from Hollywood.
Gossett’s grandson told The Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Gossett has always considered his early career to be a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him at an early age and propelled him to an Oscar for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”
He landed the lead role in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was pulled from the basketball team due to injury.
“I was captivated – and so was my audience,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, An Actor and a Gentleman.
His English teacher urged him to go to Manhattan to audition for the play “Take a Giant Step.” He got the role and made his Broadway debut in 1953, at the age of 16.
“I knew too little to be emotional,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death when I walked on stage, but I wasn’t.”
Career and biography
Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and theater scholarship. Before long, he was acting and singing on TV programs presented by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.
Gossett befriended James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at a branch of the Actors Studio, where Frank Silvera taught.
In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, opposite Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.
He then became a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.
Gossett first went to Hollywood in 1961 to make the film version of A Raisin in the Sun. He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a roach-infested motel that was one of the few places where black people were accepted.
In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in “Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-television movie, starring Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.
In August 1969, Gossett partied with the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to the home of actress Sharon Tate. He headed home first to take a shower and change his clothes. As he prepared to leave, he caught a news report on Tate’s murder on television. She and others were killed by Charles Manson’s associates that night.
Gossett made his mark on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of slavery on television.
He became the third black actor nominated for an Oscar in the supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his portrayal of the intimidating Marine Corps instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” alongside Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.
Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after winning the Oscar.
She is survived by her children Satie, a producer and director, and Sharron, a chef, whom she adopted after seeing the seven-year-old girl on a TV show about children in desperate situations.
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