By BETH HARRIS (Associated Press)
LOS ANGELES — Louis Gossett Jr., who was the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and also won an Emmy for his role in the important TV miniseries “Roots,” has died at the age of 87.
Gossett’s cousin Neal L. Gossett informed The Associated Press that the actor passed away in Santa Monica, California. A statement from the family announced that Gossett died on Friday morning. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Gossett’s cousin recalled a man who walked alongside Nelson Mandela and was known for his sense of humor. He was a relative who confronted and fought against racism with dignity and humor.
“More important than the awards, the glitz and glamour, the Rolls-Royces and the mansions in Malibu, is the humanity of the individuals that he represented,” his cousin expressed.
Louis Gossett always viewed the beginning of his career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him early on and propelling him forward, leading to his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”
Gossett gained recognition on television for his role as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which portrayed the cruelties of slavery. The extensive cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.
Gossett became the third Black actor to be nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his portrayal as the commanding Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” alongside Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also received a Golden Globe for the same role.
“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman.”
He received his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school’s production of “You Can’t Take It with You” while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.
“I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he noted in his memoir.
His English teacher encouraged him to audition for “Take a Giant Step” in Manhattan. He secured the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at the age of 16.
“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “Looking back, I should have been scared to death as I stepped onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”
Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He quickly began appearing 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 an offshoot of the Actors Studio that was led by Frank Silvera.
In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” appearing alongside Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.
He went on to achieve stardom on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.
Gossett traveled to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to work on the film adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He had unpleasant memories of that trip, staying in a motel infested with cockroaches, one of the few places that would accommodate Black individuals.
In 1968, he came back to Hollywood to play a big role in “Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-TV movie starring Melvyn Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.
This time, Gossett stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had given him a convertible. While driving back to the hotel after picking up the car, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s officer stopped him and told him to lower the radio volume and put up the car’s roof before allowing him to continue.
Shortly after, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who had him lean against the car and open the trunk while they called the car rental agency before letting him go.
“Although I understood that I had no choice but to tolerate this mistreatment, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,” Gossett wrote in his memoir. “I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.”
After dinner at the hotel, he went for a walk and was stopped a block away by a police officer, who told him he broke a law against walking around residential Beverly Hills after 9 p.m. Two other officers arrived, and Gossett said he was chained to a tree and handcuffed for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.
“Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it was not going to destroy me.”
In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.
He established the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn’t exist.
Gossett made a series of guest appearances on shows like “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud” and a memorable turn with Richard Pryor on “The Partridge Family.”
In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate’s house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate’s murder. She and others were killed by Charles Manson’s associates that night.
“There had to be a reason for my escaping 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 Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.
“The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat’ and ‘Iron Eagle,’” Gossett said in Dave Karger’s 2024 book “50 Oscar Nights.”
He said his statue was in storage.
“I’m going to donate it to a library so I don’t have to keep an eye on it,” he said in the book. “I need to be free of it.”
Gossett appeared in TV movies like “The Story of Satchel Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House, “The Josephine Baker Story,” for which he won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.”
He mentioned that despite winning an Oscar, all his roles were still supporting ones.
He portrayed a stubborn father figure in the 2023 version of “The Color Purple.”
After his Oscar win, Gossett battled alcohol and cocaine addiction for many years. He entered rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he believed came from his Malibu home.
In 2010, Gossett revealed he had prostate cancer, which he said was discovered early. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.
He is also survived by his sons Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef he adopted after seeing the 7-year-old in a TV segment about children in dire situations. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.
Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second marriage, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975, as did his third marriage to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.
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According to a family statement, it has been corrected that Gossett passed away Friday morning and not Thursday night.
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Reporters Mark Kennedy in New York and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this article for the Associated Press.
