Louis Gossett Jr., the first black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the major TV miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87 years old.
Gossett’s cousin, Neil L. Gossett confirmed his death to CBS News. The actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California, the Associated Press reports. No cause of death was revealed.
His family said in a statement on Friday, “We are deeply saddened to confirm that our beloved father passed away this morning. We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please support us at this difficult time.” Please respect the privacy of the family.”
Gossett always thought of her early career as a reverse Cinderella story, in which she found success from an early age and led to her Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman”.
He earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was kicked off the basketball team due to an injury.
“I was impressed by it, and so were my audiences,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir “An Actor and a Gentleman.”
His English teacher urged him to move to Manhattan to try to “make a big move”. She got the role and made her Broadway debut in 1953 at the age of 16.
Amy Sussman/Invision/AP
“I knew very little about being nervous,” Gossett wrote. “Looking back, I should have been very scared when I walked on that stage, but I wasn’t.”
Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He soon began acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen. Gossett became friends with James Dean and studied acting with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau, and Steve McQueen at a branch of the Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.
In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for her role in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.
“I’m fortunate to work with Sidney Poitier, Diana Sands, Ruby Dee. What a pleasure,” Gossett told CBS News in 2020, “Showed me what was good and what was bad. He taught me about it. And I fell in love. It’s in my blood.”
Gossett became a star on Broadway in 1964 by replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr.
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, when he stayed in a cockroach-infested motel, one of the few places that allowed black people.
In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a leading role in NBC’s first made-for-TV movie, “Companions in Nightmares”, starring Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neill.
This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios rented her a convertible. While driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, they were stopped by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officer, who ordered them to turn off the radio and roof the car before letting them go.
Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who cornered him in front of the car and asked him to open the trunk while calling the car rental agency before letting him go.
Gossett recalled the incident in 2020, saying, “Something happened in my system. You know, gotta look into it and be careful. Because that sensation hurt me.” Because not only did he hurt me, he hurt himself.”
After dinner at the hotel, he went out for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he had broken a law banning walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. . Two other officers arrived and Gossett said he was shackled. He was handcuffed to the tree for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car was returned.
“I now came face to face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it wasn’t going to destroy me.”
In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his 1986 Rolls-Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were looking for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.
AP
He founded the Racism Foundation to help create a world where racism does not exist.
Gossett guest-starred on shows such as “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud” and had a memorable turn opposite Richard Pryor in “The Partridge Family.”
In August 1969, Gossett was partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when he was invited to the home of actor Sharon Tate. He went home first to take bath and change his clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he saw a news flash on TV about the Tate murder. That night, Charles Manson’s associates killed him and others.
“There must be some reason for me to avoid this bullet,” he wrote.
Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Helen, a nurse. He later added Junior to his name in honor of his father.
Gossett made a splash on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The huge cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.
Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. He told CBS News that at first he did not realize he had won the award for his performance as an intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite Richard. Gere and Debra Winger.
“My agent punched me in the chest and said, ‘They said your name!’ And I had to look at him because I thought I was falling asleep,” said Gossett, who also won a Golden Globe for the role. “And I looked around and there was applause. This was not considered possible. So, it’s a piece of history.”
Gossett said that that win allowed him to pick “good parts” in future films. In 2020, he told CBS News That he considers his long career a “blessing” and will remain in the business as long as he is able.
“As long as I’m here, it’s my job to do something for the benefit of all of us who are worth it,” he said.
Gossett appeared in such TV movies as “The Story of Satchel Page”, “Backstairs at the White House”, “The Josephine Baker Story”, for which she won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.” He played the role of a stubborn father in it. 2023 remake of “The Color Purple”.
Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after winning the Oscar. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with Toxic Mold Syndrome, which he blamed on his home in Malibu.
In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancerHe said that it was caught in the initial stage itself. In 2020, he was hospitalized due to COVID-19.
His sons are Satie, a producer-director, from his second marriage, and Sharon, a chef, whom he adopted as a 7-year-old after seeing him in a TV segment on children living in deplorable conditions. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.
Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glassco was annulled. His second divorce with Christina Mangosing ended in divorce in 1975 and his third divorce with actor Cindy James-Reese in 1992.
