Louis Gossett Jr, the first black man to win an Oscar for best supporting actor, dies at 87 | Ents & Arts News
Louis Gossett Jr, the first black man to win a supporting actor Oscar for his role in An Officer And A Gentleman, has died aged 87.
The actor’s nephew confirmed he died on Thursday night in Santa Monica, California.
No cause of death was revealed.
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 in 1982.
Gere and Gossett in An Officer And A Gentlemen. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.
“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 film expert, Dave Karger’s, 2024 book “50 Oscar Nights”.
Pic: AP
He said his statue was in storage.
Born on 27 May 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, Gossett later added Junior to his name to honour his father.
He first started acting in his school productions and at the age of 16 made his Broadway debut in the play Take A Giant Step.
Pic: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
He would later gain critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of A Raisin In The Sun, and in 1961 appeared in the film version of the same production.
Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the 1977 TV miniseries Roots, which depicted the atrocities of slavery.
He later won an Emmy Award for the role.
