{"id":22685,"date":"2024-03-29T18:20:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T22:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685"},"modified":"2024-04-02T11:56:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T15:56:29","slug":"actor-louis-gossett-jr-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685","title":{"rendered":"Actor Louis Gossett Jr. Dies at 87: First Black Man to Win Supporting Oscar"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\u00a9An Officer and a Gentleman\/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win an Oscar for best supporting actor, died in Santa Monica, California on Friday morning. He was 87.

No cause of death was revealed, but it is known that Gossett had been suffering from prostate cancer. He had also been hospitalized during the coronavirus pandemic.
In announcing his death, his cousin Neal L. Gossett told reporters: \u201cNever mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It\u2019s about the humanity of the people that he stood for.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

After appearing in several Broadway productions, Gossett made his television debut in 1977, playing Fiddler in the iconic miniseries Roots<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, which depicted the dark legacy of slavery in America. In 1983, for his role as a Marine drill instructor in An Officer and a Gentleman<\/strong><\/a>,<\/em> he became only the third Black actor to receive an Oscar nomination in the supporting actor category, which he won. Gossett remained active until the very end. In 2023, he made his final film appearance in a remake of The Color Purple<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, playing an obstinate patriarch.

In his 2010 memoir, An Actor and a Gentleman<\/em>, Gossett wrote: \u201cMore than anything, [the Oscar award] was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor.\u201d

Gossett began his performing career as a teenager in his Brooklyn high school, when he was cast in a production of You Can\u2019t Take It with You<\/em>. \u201cI was hooked\u2014and so was my audience,\u201d he recalled. Encouraged by his teacher, he made his Broadway debut in Take a Giant Step<\/em> in 1953, when he was sixteen.

The actor later attended NYU on a basketball and drama scholarship. Gossett appeared on a number of variety shows in the 1950s, including those hosted by Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar, and David Susskind. He later appeared on Broadway in Raisin in the Sun, where he worked with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee. In 1963, he starred with Sammy Davis Jr.<\/a> in Golden Boy<\/em>.

When Gossett went to Hollywood in the 1960s. he experienced first-hand the racial prejudice suffered by Black men in America. While driving, he was harassed by local police on several occasions, and was handcuffed and chained to a tree for three hours for walking at night in the upscale Beverly Hills neighborhood.

\u201cThough I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,\u201d Gossett wrote in his memoir. \u201cI realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car \u2014 which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.\u201d

\u201cNow I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut it was not going to destroy me.\u201d Gossett established the Eracism Foundation<\/a> to envision a world free of such bigoted behavior.

News of Gossett\u2019s passing brought tributes from many of his friends and colleagues, including singer Dionne Warwick, who said, \u201cAnother dear one has made his transition. Lou was set to play the role of my grandfather in the proposed feature film of my life. I will miss my friend and send heartfelt condolences to his family.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Gossett is survived by his son Satie and his adopted daughter Sharron.<\/p>\r\n

If you are interested, please leave the comment below!\u00a0<\/strong>

Check out more of Edward’s articles.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9An Officer and a Gentleman\/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures\u00a0 Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win an Oscar for best supporting actor, died in Santa Monica, California on Friday morning. He was 87. No cause of death was revealed, but it is known that Gossett had been suffering from prostate cancer. He had also…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6342,21324,21326,5098,15925,9117,21325,3748],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nActor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87: First Black Man to Win Supporting Oscar for an Officer and a Gentleman.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87: First Black Man to Win Supporting Oscar for an Officer and a Gentleman.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-29T22:20:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-02T15:56:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Luis.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"409\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edward Moran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edward Moran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685\",\"name\":\"Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Luis.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-29T22:20:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-02T15:56:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8bf0a19223aa026749c276918426a5bc\"},\"description\":\"Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. Dies at 87: First Black Man to Win Supporting Oscar for an Officer and a Gentleman.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Luis.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Luis.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":409,\"caption\":\"louis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22685#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Actor Louis Gossett Jr. Dies at 87: First Black Man to Win Supporting Oscar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/\",\"name\":\"Cinema Daily US\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8bf0a19223aa026749c276918426a5bc\",\"name\":\"Edward Moran\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Edward-Moran-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Edward-Moran-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Edward Moran\"},\"description\":\"Edward Moran began his journalistic career many decades ago as a theater and cinema reviewer for Show Business and the New York Theater Review. 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