Louis Gossett Jr., who was the first African-American actor to receive an Oscar and an Emmy for his work in the 1970s TV miniseries, Roots, died on Thursday night at the age of 87.
His nephew said the actor died in Santa Monica, and the cause of death was not revealed.
He always viewed his early success as a reversed Cinderella story. He was able to achieve his early success after being discovered at an early age, and he was eventually able to take home an Oscar for his performance in the film An Officer and A Gentleman.
In his 2010 memoir, An Actor and a Gentleman, he wrote that he was hooked by the experience. His English teacher encouraged him to audition for Take a Giant Step in Manhattan.
He made his Broadway debut at the age of 16 in 1953. According to him, he was very confident about his performance.
In hindsight, he says he should have been more scared to death as he walked on stage. After moving to New York, he became friends with James Dean and learned acting under Frank Silvera at the Actors Studio. He also worked with Steve McQueen, Martin Landau, and Marilyn Monroe.
After becoming a Broadway star, he worked alongside some of the most prominent actors of the time, such as Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr. Eventually, Hollywood beckoned. In the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared on various TV shows, but he eventually broke through after playing the role of Fiddler in the critically acclaimed TV miniseries, Roots.
In 1983, he received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his performance in the film An Officer and a Gentleman, which was co-starring Debra Winger and Richard Gere. According to him, it reinforced his belief that he was an African-American actor.
He also stated that winning an Oscar didn’t change the fact that he was still able to act in supporting roles. For years following his Oscar win, he struggled with cocaine and alcohol addiction. He was eventually diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, and he only appeared in one movie last year, the remake of The Color Purple.