{"id":107838,"date":"2024-03-30T14:32:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T14:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87"},"modified":"2024-03-30T16:05:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T16:05:31","slug":"louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87","title":{"rendered":"Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Tanzania. <\/strong><\/span>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 \u201cRoots,\u201d has died. He was 87.<\/b><\/p>\n

Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was revealed.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cAn Officer and a Gentleman.\u201d<\/p>\n

He earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn high school\u2019s production of \u201cYou Can\u2019t Take It with You\u201d while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In 1959, Gossett received critical acclaim for his role in the Broadway production of \u201cA Raisin in the Sun\u201d along with Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Diana Sands.<\/p>\n

He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in \u201cGolden Boy\u201d with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Gossett broke through on the small screen as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries \u201cRoots,\u201d which depicted the atrocities of slavery on TV. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and John Amos.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cAn Officer and a Gentleman\u201d opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,\u201d he wrote in his memoir.<\/p>\n

Gossett appeared in such TV movies as \u201cThe Story of Satchel Paige,\u201d \u201cBackstairs at the White House, \u201cThe Josephine Baker Story,\u201d for which he won another Golden Globe, and \u201cRoots Revisited.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said winning an Oscar didn\u2019t change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.<\/p>\n

He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of \u201cThe Color Purple.\u201d<\/p>\n

He 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.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Tanzania<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Tanzania. 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 \u201cRoots,\u201d has died. He was 87. Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":107837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[6990,6991,11755,8388,8458,711],"class_list":["post-107838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press-2","tag-africa-press-tanzania","tag-afro-americans","tag-film-awards","tag-oscars","tag-tanzania"],"yoast_head":"\nLouis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87 - Tanzania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tanzania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-30T14:32:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-30T16:05:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2024\/03\/sm_1711798110.787789.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\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\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-30T14:32:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-30T16:05:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\"},\"wordCount\":482,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/sites\/17\/2024\/03\/sm_1711798110.787789.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Tanzania\",\"afro-americans\",\"Film Awards\",\"Oscars\",\"tanzania\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/louis-gossett-jr-1st-black-man-to-win-supporting-actor-oscar-dies-at-87\",\"name\":\"Louis Gossett Jr., 1st Black man to win supporting actor Oscar, dies at 87 - 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