2024-04-01 17:47:22
Louis Gossett Jr., the first black actor to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and an Emmy for Best Actor, died on Thursday at the age of 87, a family member told the Associated Press this Friday.
Neal L. Gossett, the actor’s cousin, told the American news outlet that Gossett Jr. died on Thursday night in Santa Monica, California.
Louis Gossett Jr. won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the authoritarian Sergeant Emil Foley, in “Officer and Gentleman”, by Taylor Hackford, in 1982, four years after the Emmy, for his portrayal of Fiddler, in the series “Roots”, one of the first major television productions to directly address the crimes of racism and slavery.
Gossett received six more Emmy nominations over the years, including for his portrayal of the Egyptian president who negotiated peace with Israel after the Six-Day War in the 1983 television production “Sadat,” which the actor later considered one of the your favorite performances.
This Friday, Variety magazine recalls Louis Gossett Jr.’s performances in television productions such as “The Sentry Collection Presents Ben Vereen: His Roots”, “Backstairs at the White House”, “Palmerstown, USA”, “A Gathering of Old Men ” and “Touched by an Angel”, as well as his participation in “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Book of Negroes”, two of his most recent works.
Last year he was the patriarch of the remake of “The Color Purple”.
Speaking to the AP, Neal L. Gossett recalls his cousin as “a great teller of jokes” and also a man who admired Nelson Mandela and who faced and fought racism “with dignity and humor”.
“No matter the awards, no matter the shine and the glamour, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. What matters is the humanity of the people he defended,” said Neal L. Gossett.
2024-04-01 17:47:22