We lost a legend in Louis Gossett Jr. (1936-2024)
Louis Gossett Jr. passed away early Friday in Santa Monica, California. He won an Academy Award for "An Officer and a Gentleman" and an Emmy for "Roots," both of which portrayed a mature man advising a younger man assuming a new role, but in radically different situations. His age was eighteen.
Neal L. Gossett, the first cousin of Mr. Gossett, confirmed the demise. A cause was not specified by him.
In "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982), at the age of 46, Mr. Gossett portrayed Emil Foley, the Marine drill instructor from hell who ultimately molds the humanity of a young Naval aviation recruit (Richard Gere) who is emotionally damaged.
He spoke of the role by stating, “The words just tasted good.”
He was the first African American actor to receive the Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983, and only the third (after Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier) to win an Academy Award for acting.
During his lengthy career, the versatile actor Mr. Gossett appeared in a variety of roles. However, he was most renowned for portraying respectable, straightforward individuals who were frequently in positions of authority.
Prior to being awarded the Oscar, he had already been honored with an Emmy for his performance as Fiddler, the mentor of the protagonist, Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton), in the critically acclaimed 1977 miniseries "Roots."
A slave on a Virginia plantation in the eighteenth century, fiddler was, as his name implied, a musician. Mr. Gossett was initially unenthusiastic about the role. "Why did you choose me to play Uncle Tom?" he recalled thinking during a video interview for the 2018 Television Academy. "However," he explained, he developed an admiration for the fortitude of his predecessors, such as Fiddler, and inspired the character after his grandparents and a great-grandmother.
He stated that this depiction was "a tribute to all those people who taught me how to behave.”
"The Landlord" (1970), in which he portrayed a man on the verge of insanity; "Travels With My Aunt" (1972); and "The Deep" (1977), in which he portrayed a Bahamian drug distributor, were among his dozens of feature films. His later films included “Diggstown” (1992), in which he portrayed a boxer, and the movie version of Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” (1994), in which he played a bar owner.
Mr. Gossett appeared in over a hundred sitcoms and dramas, spanning from comedic fare such as "The Partridge Family" to serious affairs like "Madam Secretary." In the 1989 short-lived series "Gideon Oliver," he portrayed the titular character, an anthropology professor from Columbia who investigates crimes.
Throughout his career, the actor appeared in several television films. These included "Strange Justice" (1999), where he portrayed presidential adviser Vernon Jordan in a film about the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation process. He also starred in "The Lazarus Syndrome" (1978) as a cardiologist, "A Gathering of Old Men" (1987) as a Black man who killed in self-defense, and "Lackawanna Blues" (2005), adapted from Ruben Santiago-Hudson's play. Additionally, he portrayed baseball superstar Satchel Paige and Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat in television films.
Most recently, he appeared in the cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical "The Color Purple," continuing his acting career until the previous year.
The marriage between Mr. Gossett and Hattie Glascoe in 1964 was brief, only lasting for a period of five months. He married Christina Mangosing in 1973, had a child together, and subsequently divorced two years later. His marriage to Cyndi James Reese ended in divorce in 1992.
Mr. Gossett is survived by his sons, Satie and Sharron Gossett, in addition to several grandchildren.