Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win an Oscar for supporting actor, passes away.
LOS ANGELES: Following his appearance in the groundbreaking TV miniseries “Roots,” Louis Gossett Jr. became the first Black man to win both an Emmy and an Oscar for supporting actor. Sadly, he passed away. His age was 87. The actor passed away in Santa Monica, California, according to Louis Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett, who spoke with The Associated Press. Gossett passed away on Friday morning, according to a family statement. The reason of death was not disclosed. Gossett’s cousin recounted a story of a relative who confronted and combated racism with humor and dignity. This individual was a terrific joker in addition to walking with Nelson Mandela.
Forget about the accolades, the glamour, the Rolls-Royces, and the lavish homes in Malibu. “It concerns the humanity of those he supported,” his cousin remarked. Louis Gossett always viewed his early career as a kind of reverse Cinderella tale, in which success came to him at a young age and helped him on his journey to winning the Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Louis Gossett had his breakthrough on television in the ground-breaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which portrayed the horrors of enslavement on television, as Fiddler. LeVar Burton, John Amos, and Ben Vereen were among the large cast members.
In 1983, Gossett was nominated for a third Black Oscar in the supporting actor category. Serving as the formidable Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” alongside Richard Gere and Debra Winger, he took home the award for that role. For the same part, he was also awarded a Golden Globe. “An Actor and a Gentleman,” his memoir from 2010, stated, “was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor more than anything else.” While he was injured and unable to play basketball, he received his first acting credit in the “You Can’t Take It with You” performance at his high school in Brooklyn.
In his memoir, he said, “I was hooked—and so was my audience.” He was encouraged by his English teacher to go to Manhattan and try out for “Take a Giant Step.” After being cast, he debuted on Broadway in 1953 at the age of sixteen. Gossett wrote, “I knew too little to be nervous.” “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.” Gossett received scholarships to study acting and basketball at New York University. Soon after, he began performing and singing on television programs presented by Steve Allen, Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, Red Buttons, Jack Paar, and David Susskind.
At a branch of the Actors Studio run by Frank Silvera, Gossett made friends with James Dean and studied acting alongside Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau, and Steve McQueen. Gossett won praise from critics in 1959 for his performance as Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, and Diana Sands’ co-star in the Broadway version of “A Raisin in the Sun”. Sammy Davis Jr. took Billy Daniels’ place in “Golden Boy” in 1964, and he went on to become a Broadway superstar.
1961 marked Louis Gossett’s first trip to Hollywood, where he worked on “A Raisin in the Sun.” He remembered the trip with bitterness, sleeping in one of the few Black people’s only accommodations, a cockroach-infested motel. He made a big comeback to Hollywood in 1968 when he starred in NBC’s first made-for-TV film, “Companions in Nightmare,” alongside Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter, and Patrick O’Neal.
Gossett and Hattie Glascoe’s first marriage was dissolved. Both his second marriage, to Christina Mangosing, and his third, to actor Cyndi James-Reese, ended in divorce in 1975 and 1992, respectively.
