Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87
He was not on the list.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to
win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV
miniseries “Roots,” has died. He was 87.
Gossett’s first cousin Neal L. Gossett told The Associated
Press that the actor died in Santa Monica, California. A statement from the
family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.
Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson
Mandela and who also was a great joke teller, a relative who faced and fought
racism with dignity and humor.
“Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the
Rolls-Royces and the big houses in Malibu. It’s about the humanity of the people
that he stood for,” his cousin said.
Louis Gossett always thought of his early career as a
reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and
propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a
Gentleman.”
Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the
groundbreaking 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which depicted the atrocities of
slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John
Amos.
Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the
supporting actor category in 1983. He won for his performance as the
intimidating Marine drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman” opposite
Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won 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 had earned 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 wrote in his
memoir.
His English teacher urged him to go into Manhattan to try
out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in
1953 at age 16.
“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In
retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but
I wasn’t.”
Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and
drama scholarship. He was soon acting and singing on TV shows hosted by David
Susskind, Ed Sullivan, Red Buttons, Merv Griffin, Jack Paar and Steve Allen.
Gossett became friendly with James Dean and studied acting
with Marilyn Monroe, Martin Landau and Steve McQueen at an offshoot of the
Actors Studio taught by Frank Silvera.
In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in
the Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” along with Sidney Poitier,Ruby
Dee and Diana Sands.
He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy
Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.
Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make
the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He had bitter memories of that trip,
staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow
Black people.
In 1968, he returned to Hollywood for a major role in
“Companions in Nightmare,” NBC’s first made-for-TV movie that starred Melvyn
Douglas, Anne Baxter and Patrick O’Neal.
This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel
and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. Driving back to the hotel
after picking up the car, he was stopped by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s
officer who ordered him to turn down the radio and put up the car’s roof before
letting him go.
Within minutes, he was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers,
who had him lean against the car and made him open the trunk while they called
the car rental agency before letting him go.
“Though 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,”
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
prohibiting 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 founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world
where racism doesn’t exist.
Gossett made a series of guest appearances on such shows as
“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 such TV movies as “The Story of Satchel
Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House, “The Josephine Baker Story,” for which
he won another Golden Globe, and “Roots Revisited.”
But he said winning an Oscar didn’t change the fact that all
his roles were supporting ones.
He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The
Color Purple.”
Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for
years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic
mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.
In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he
said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with
COVID-19.
He also is survived by sons Satie, a producer-director from
his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef whom he adopted after seeing the
7-year-old in a TV segment on children in desperate situations. His first
cousin is actor Robert Gossett.
Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His
second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to
actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.
Filmography
Film
Key
† Denotes
works that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
1961 A Raisin in the
Sun George Murchison
1969 The Bushbaby Tembo
1970 The Landlord Copee
1971 Skin Game Jason O'Rourke
1972 Travels with My
Aunt Zachary / 'Wordsworth'
1973 The Fuzz
Brothers Francis Fuzz
1973 The Laughing
Policeman Inspector James
Larrimore
1974 The White Dawn Portagee
1976 The River Niger Dr. Dudley Stanton
1976 J. D.'s Revenge Reverend Elija Bliss
1977 The Deep Henri Cloche
1977 The Choirboys Calvin Motts
1980 It Rained All
Night the Day I Left Leo Garcia
1982 An Officer and
a Gentleman Gunnery Sergeant
Emil Foley
1983 Jaws 3-D Calvin Bouchard
1984 Finders Keepers Century
1985 Enemy Mine Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan
1986 Iron Eagle Colonel Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair
1986 Firewalker Leo Porter
1987 The Principal Jake Phillips
1987 A Gathering of
Old Men Mathu
1988 Iron Eagle II Colonel / Brigadier General Charles
'Chappy' Sinclair
1989 The Punisher Detective Jake Berkowitz
1991 Cover Up CIA Chief Lou Jackson
1991 Toy Soldiers Dean Parker
1992 Aces: Iron
Eagle III Brigadier General
Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair
1992 Diggstown Roy 'Honey Roy' Palmer
1993 Monolith Captain MacCandless
1994 Flashfire Ben Durand
1994 Blue Chips Father Dawkins
1994 A Good Man in
Africa Professor Sam Adekunle
1994 Curse of the
Starving Class Ellis
1995 Iron Eagle on
the Attack Brigadier General
Charles 'Chappy' Sinclair (Ret.)
1996 Managua Paul
1997 The Wall That
Heals Narrator
1997 Bram Stoker's
Legend of the Mummy Corbeck
1999 Terminal
Countdown Morgan
2000 The Highwayman Phil Bishop
2002 Deceived Colonel David Garrett Direct-to-video release
2005 Window Ralph Stanley Part of African American Short Films[3]
2005 Left Behind:
World at War President Gerald
Fitzhugh
2006 All In Caps
2006 Club Soda 'Doc'
2007 Daddy's
Little Girls Willie
2007 Cover Detective Hicks
2008 The Perfect
Game Cool Papa Bell
2008 Delgo Zahn Voice
2009 Dog Jack Grown Up Jed
2009 Shannon's
Rainbow Max Donovan
2009 The Least Among
You Samuel Benton
2010 Smitty Mr. Smith
2010 Why Did I Get
Married Too? Porter
2011 The Grace Card George Wright
2011 A Fonder Heart Glen
2011 The Lamp The Genie
2012 The
Undershepherd Bishop Redford
2014 A Fighting Man 'Cubby'
2014 The Dependables Lou Jones
2015 Boiling Pot Detective Haven
2017 Undercover
Grandpa Mother
2017 Double Play 'Coco'
2017 Breaking
Brooklyn Miles Bryant
2019 Foster Boy Judge
2019 The Cuban Luis Garcia
2019 Supervized Pendle
2021 Not to Forget Pastor John
2022 Three Months Benny
2023 The Color
Purple Ol' Mister
2024 IF † Bear Voice,
post-production, posthumous release
TBA Unplugged
† Amos Burton Voice, filming
Television
Key
† Denotes
works that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
1958 The Big Story Jamie Goodwin Episode: "The Stubbornest Man"
1962 The Nurses William Taylor Episode:
"The Prisoner"
1967–1968 Cowboy
in Africa Fulah / Hemera Episode: "Fang and Claw"
Episode: "The Quiet Death"
1968 The Invaders Ollie Episode: "The Vise"
1968 Daktari Mkono Episode: "Adam and Jenny"
1968 Companions
in Nightmare Lieutenant Adam
McKay NBC television film
1970 The Bill Cosby
Show 'Hurricane' Smith Episode: "The Return of Big Bad
Bubba Bronson"
1970–1971 The
Young Rebels Isak Poole 15 episodes
1971 Big Fish,
Little Fish Jimmie Luton Television film
1971 The Partridge
Family Sam Episode: "Soul Club"
1971 Bonanza Buck Walter Episode: "The Desperado"
1971 Longstreet Sergeant Cory Episode: "The Way of the Intercepting Fist"
1971 The Bold Ones:
The New Doctors Dr. Karnes Episode: "One Lonely Step"
1971 Alias Smith and
Jones Joe Sims Episode: "The Bounty Hunter"
1971 Cade's County Unknown Episode: "The Alien Land"
1975 Insight The Man Episode: "The Man from Inner Space"
1972 The Living End Doug Newman CBS television pilot
1972 The Rookies Toby Jones Episode: "Covenant with Death"
1972 Love, American
Style Freddy Segment: "Love and the
Christmas Punch..."
1968–1972 The
Mod Squad 'Smitty' (1968)
Lloyd (1969)
Charley Jameson (1972) Episode:
"When Smitty Comes Marching Home" (1968)
Episode: "The Uptight Town" (1969)
Episode: "Can You Hear Me Out There?" (1972)
1973 Owen Marshall:
Counselor at Law Unknown Episode: "An Often and Familiar
Ghost"
1974 It's Good to Be
Alive Sam Brockington CBS television film
1974 Sidekicks Jason O'Rourke TV remake of Gossett's 1971 Skin Game
CBS television film
1974 The White Dawn Portagee ABC television film
1974 McCloud Dewey Justin Episode: "Shivaree on Delancy Street"
1974 The New Land Simon York Episode: "The Word is: Dignity" (never aired)
1974–1975 Petrocelli District Attorney Kurt Olson Episode: "A Very Lonely
Lady" and "A Fallen Idol"
1974–1975 Good
Times Donald Knight / Uncle Wilbert Episode: "Thelma's Young
Man"
Episode: "Michael's Big Fall"
1975 Lucas Tanner Bobby Koball Episode:
"Bonus Baby"
1975 Black Bart Bart 'Black Bart' CBS television film
1975 Delancey
Street: The Crisis Within Otis
James NBC television film
1975 Caribe David Wallace Episode: "The Assassin"
1975 Harry O Cleon Jackson Episode: "Shades"
1975 The Jeffersons Wendell Brown Episode: "George's Best Friend"
1975 The Six Million
Dollar Man O'Flaherty Episode: "Clark Templeton
O'Flaherty"
1975–1976 Police
Story Freddie / Virgil Barnes Episode: "The Cut Man Caper"
Episode: "50 Cents-First Half Hour, $1.75 All Day"
1976 Little House on
the Prairie Henry Hill Episode: "The Long Road
Home"
1976 The Rebels Unknown
1976–1977 The
Rockford Files Marcus 'Gabby'
Hayes Episode: Foul on the
First Play and Just Another Polish Wedding
1977 Little Ladies
of the Night Russ Garfield ABC television film
1977 Roots Fiddler ABC miniseries
1977 Visions Rex Episode:
"Freeman"
1978 The Sentry
Collection Presents Ben Vereen: His Roots Himself Television special
1978 To Kill a Cop Everett Walker Uncredited role; NBC television film
1978 The Critical
List Lem Harper NBC television film
1979 Backstairs
at the White House Levi Mercer NBC miniseries
1979 Lawman
Without a Gun Tom Hayward NBC television film
1979 The Lazarus
Syndrome Dr. MacArthur St.
Clair ABC television film
1980 Palmerstown,
USA Fredrick Douglas Jackson Episode: Future City
1981 Don't Look
Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige Leroy
'Satchel' Paige ABC television
film
1982 American
Playhouse Unknown Episode: "Zora Is My
Name!"
1982 Benny's Place Benny Moore ABC
television film
1982 Saturday
Night Live Host Episode: "Louis Gossett
Jr/George Thorogood & the Destroyers"
1982–1983 The
Powers of Matthew Star Walter
'Walt' Shepherd / D'Hai 22 episodes
1983 Sadat Anwar al-Sadat Television film
1984 The Guardian John Mack Television film
1987 A Gathering of
Old Men Mathu CBS television film
1987 The Father
Clements Story Father Clements NBC television film
1988 Sam Found Out:
A Triple Play Unknown ABC television film
1988 Goodbye,
Miss 4th of July John 'Big John'
Creed Disney Channel television film
1988 Roots: The Gift Fiddler ABC television film
1988 Straight Up Cosmo 2
episodes
1989 Gideon Oliver Gideon Oliver 5
episodes
1990 El Diablo Van Leek HBO
television film
1990 Sudie and
Simpson Simpson Television film
1991–1992 Captain
Planet and the Planeteers Commander
Clash Voice, 3 episodes
1991 The Josephine
Baker Story Sidney Williams HBO television film
1991 Carolina
Skeletons James Bragg NBC television film
1992 Keeper of the
City Detective James Dela Television film
1993 Story of a
People Host Miniseries
1993 Gridiron
Gang Host Documentary
film
1993 Father &
Son: Dangerous Relations Unknown NBC television film
1993 Return to
Lonesome Dove Isom Pickett Miniseries
1994 Picket Fences Rick Jennings Episode:
"Terms of Estrangement"
1994 Ray Alexander:
A Taste for Justice Ray Alexander NBC television film
1995 A Father for
Charlie Walter Osgood CBS television film
1995 Zooman Rueben Tate Television movie
1995 Ray Alexander:
A Menu for Murder Ray Alexander Television movie
1996 Captive Heart:
The James Mink Story James Mink Television movie
1996 Run for the
Dream: The Gail Devers Story Bob Kersee Television film
1996 Inside Questioner Television film
1997 Touched
by an Angel Anderson Walker Episode: "Amazing Grace"
1997 To Dance with
Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS television film
1997 In His Father's
Shoes Frank Crosby / Richard Showtime television film
1997 Early Edition Jim Matthews Episode:
"The Medal"
1997 Ellen Sergeant Timko Episode: "G.I. Ellen"
1998 Inspectors Inspector Frank Hughes Showtime television film
1999 Love Songs Reuben Segment:
"A Love Song for Dad"
1999 Strange Justice Vernon Jordan Showtime
television film
2000 Dr. Lucille David Mulera Television
film
2000 The Inspectors
2: A Shred of Evidence Inspector
Frank Hughes Showtime
television film
2000 The Color of
Love: Jacey's Story Lou
Hastings CBS television film
2001 For Love of
Olivia Daniel Stewart CBS television film
2002 Opening
Ceremony Salt Lake Paralympic Winter Games Narrator Television special
2002 What About Your
Friends: Weekend Getaway Dr.
Barnes UPN television film
2002 Resurrection
Blvd. Ezekiel 'Zeke' Grant Episode: "En Un Momento"
and "Esperando Lagrimas"
2003 The Dead Zone Pastor David Lewis Episode: "Zion"
2003 Jasper, Texas R.C. Horn Television
movie
2003 Momentum Raymond Addison SCI FI television film
2004 Half & Half Ray Willis 2
episodes
2005 Solar Attack President Ryan Gordon Direct-to-DVD release
2005 Lackawanna
Blues Ol'lem Taylor HBO television film
2005–2006 Stargate
SG-1 Gerak 5
episodes
2006 Family Guy Sergeant Angryman Voice, episode: "Saving Private
Brian"
2007 The Batman Lucius Fox Voice,
3 episodes
2009 ER Leo Malcolm Episode: "The Family Man"
2012 Psych Lloyd Episode: "Heeeeere's Lassie"
2013 Boardwalk
Empire Oscar Boneau Episode: "Havre de Grace"
2014–2015 Extant Quinn Recurring; 4 episodes
2014 Madam Secretary Father Laurent Vasseur Episode: "The Call"
2015 The Book of
Negroes Daddy Moses 2 episodes
2015 The Spoils
Before Dying Duke Webster Episode: "The Trip Trap"
2017 The Good Fight Carl Reddick Episode: "Reddick v Boseman"
2018 Hap and Leonard Bacon 6 episodes
2018 Hawaii Five-0 Percy Grover Sr. Episode: "Lele pū nā manu like" (Hawaiian for:
"Birds of a Feather...")
2019 Watchmen Will Reeves / Hooded Justice 7 episodes
Theatre
Year Title Role Venue Ref.
1953 Take a Giant
Step Spencer Scott Lyceum Theatre, Broadway debut
1955 The Desk Set Kenny Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway
1959 A Raisin in the
Sun George Murchinson Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway
1963 Tambourines
to Glory Big-Eyed Buddy Lomax Little Theatre, Broadway
1964 Golden Boy Frank Majestic
Theatre, Broadway
1965 The Zulu and
the Zayda Paulus Cort Theatre, Broadway
1966 My Sweet
Charlie Charles Roberts Longacre Theatre, Broadway
1968 Carry Me Back
to Morningside Heights Willie Nurse John Golden Theatre, Broadway
1971 Murderous
Angels Patricia Lumumba Playhouse Theatre
1996 Chicago Billy Flynn Ambassador Theatre
2006 Dvorak's
New World: Chamber Music Plus Narrator Venue
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