Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a Supporting Actor Oscar, died.
The news was confirmed to The Associated Press Friday morning by Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett. Gossett Jr. passed away on Thursday night (Mar. 29) in Santa Monica, California. The cause of death has not yet been released.
Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the 1961 Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” alongside Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier, civil rights activist Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.
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Other Broadway successes include Jean Genet’s anti-colonialism play “The Blacks” and Conor Cruise O’Brien’s “Murderous Angels,”
Gossett Jr. is best known for his Academy Award-winning role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman” and for portraying Fiddler in ABC’s 1977 mini-series “Roots.”
“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his memoir, An Actor and a Gentleman.
The trailblazing actor has also starred in popular movies “The Landlord,” “Skin Game,” “The Deep,” “Enemy Mine,” “Iron Eagle,” “Iron Eagle II,” “The Punisher” and many others.
“The closer we get to that one nation under God indivisible consciousness with all of us, the better off we will be. That’s what we have to teach our children, and I intend to teach children from all ethnicities how they need one another and how they develop the best of their culture to add to the whole American pie. The American soup tastes much better when the best of all the cultures that live here is contributing to the building of this wonderful country,” he told Smashing Magazine.
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“I’m not an African-American anymore; I’m an American-African. There’s American-Italians. It’s one nation under God, indivisible. It’s very patriotic. We have to 24-7 contribute to the positive building of this country together. It’s hard to get a terrorist attack in the middle of some kind of principles like that. It’s tough for a bad guy to get in there then.”
In 1991, he starred in The Josephine Baker Story, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
More recently, Gossett Jr. portrayed Mister’s cantankerous father, Albert “Mister” Johnson, in the 2023 “The Color Purple remake.” The raked in $18 million alone on its first day, making it the second-largest grossing Christmas Day release in history.
“Everything fell into place,” he said. “It is such a monumental piece with great hands on it. This ensemble is amazing. To be included in that, I feel blessed, and I thank God for that. It’s great to be part of history,” he said to Arts ATL.
Gossett was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his converted 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II in the late 90s. At the time, officers told him that he looked like a man they were searching and said he was tied to a tree and handcuffed for three hours before he was let go after being recognized as a Hollywood star. In response, he founded the Eracism Foundation to “contribute to the creation of a society where racism does not exist,” according to the website.
In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, but it was caught in the early stages.
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He was married three times. First to Hattie Glascoe (the marriage was later annulled.) His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975. He would go on to marry Cyndi James-Reese in 1987. They were divorced in 1992.
Gossett Jr. is survived by sons Satie and Sharron and his first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.
