LOUIS GOSSETT, JR (1936 - 2024)

Louis Gossett, Jr., the groundbreaking actor who found great success on the stage and screen passed away on March 29th. He was eighty-seven. No cause of death has been given to date. Gossett, Jr. became the first African-American actor to receive the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1982 for his performance of a hard-driving Marine Sgt. Foley in "An Officer and a Gentleman". He had won an Emmy Award  for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama six years earlier for playing Fiddler in the acclaimed television miniseries, "Roots".

The Brooklyn born actor began his career on the Broadway stage; first appearing in the play, "Take a Giant Step" in 1953 before becoming a part of the original cast in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" six year later. Gossett Jr. would reprise his role of George Murchison in the film adaptation of "Raisin" in 1961, making his feature film debut. Also that year, he appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's "The Blacks" which featured an impressive cast that included James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Cicely Tyson, Godfrey Cambridge and Maya Angelou. During this time, Gossett Jr. was also dabbling as a musician, recording and performing folk music and co-writing the anti-war protest anthem, "Handsome Johnny" with Richie Havens in 1966 which Havens would later perform live during his set at the Woodstock music festival.

But acting was where Gossett Jr. put most of the focus throughout his career. He appeared in the films, "The Landlord" which was Hal Ashby's directorial debut; George Cukor's "Travels with My Aunt"; "The Choirboys"; the sci-fi drama, "Enemy Mine"; the Air Force adventure, "Iron Eagle" with three sequels and the underwater thriller, "The Deep". Gossett Jr. made many television appearances on series ranging from "The Six Million Dollar Man" to "Good Times" and playing the late third President of Egypt in the 1983 miniseries, "Sadat". Recently, Gossett Jr. did acclaimed work in the HBO series, "Watchmen" and appeared in the musical remake of "The Color Purple".