Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr passes away at 87

Louis Gossett Jr who won an Emmy for Roots and an Academy Award for An Officer and a Gentleman has passed away He was 87 as per The Hollywood ReporterThe actor died at a rehabilitation centre in Santa Monica California Although Gossetts exact cause of death is unknown he had recently battled respiratory illness and prostate cancerIn a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter his family said It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time Please respect the familys privacy during this difficult timeGossett was menacing in a variety of tough roles most notably in Taylor Hackfords Officer and a Gentleman 1982 where he played Gunnery Sgt Emil Foley and rode Richard Geres character mercilessly but for his own good at an officer candidate school before engaging in an unforgettable martial arts duel Gossett had a sleek bald pate and an athletes physiqueHe was the second Black man to win an acting Oscar following Sidney Poitier in 1964For the role the 6foot4 Gossett trained for 30 days at the Marine Corps Recruitment Division an adjunct of Camp Pendleton north of San Diego I knew I had to put myself through at least some degree of this allencompassing transformation Gossett wrote in his 2010 biography An Actor and a GentlemanGossett began his Hollywood career in 1959 as George Murchison in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberrys familial tragedy A Raisin in the Sun He later costarred alongside Poitier and Ruby Dee in Daniel Petries 1961 Columbia film adaptationHis first major taste of national fame came from his eloquent performance in the eightpart ABC miniseries Roots where he played Fiddler an elderly slave who taught a young Kunta Kinte LeVar Burton to speak English Eightyfive per cent of Americans watched at least some of Roots and in January 1977 the shows conclusion drew in over 100 million peopleAll the top AfricanAmerican actors were asked and I begged to be in there Gossett once said I got the best role I think It was wonderfulAccording to The Hollywood Reporter Gossett also starred in the critically acclaimed telefilm Sadat 1983 in which he played the assassinated Egyptian leader Sadats widow Jehan personally chose him for the part and he portrayed a baseball immortal in Dont Look Back The Story of Leroy Satchel Paige in a 1981 telefilmDuring his 60yearplus career Gossett excelled in a number of nonstereotypical racial roles playing a hospital chief of staff on the 1979 ABC series The Lazarus Syndrome and the title character Gideon Oliver an anthropology professor on a 1989 set of ABC Mystery MoviesGossett was born on May 27 1936 in the melting pot of Brooklyn the son of a porter who was adopted and raised by an Italian family and a maid At Abraham Lincoln High School he was class president and starred on the baseball track and basketball teams later he would be invited to the New York Knicks rookie campGossett became interested in acting after missing one season of high school basketball due to a leg injury His English instructor suggested him to the makers of the 1953 Broadway production Take a Giant Step After defeating over 400 other candidates to get the main part at the age of 17 he was awarded the Donaldson Award for best rookie of the yearGossett joined James Dean as a friend at the Actors Studio in New York after accepting a dramatics scholarship to NYU He made his movie debut in 1957 on the NBC anthology series The Big StoryIn 1964 he Lola Falana and Mae Barnes sang in the cast of America Be Seated a modern minstrel show that was produced by Mike Todd Jr and played at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New YorkTwo years later he cowrote the antiwar song Handsome Johnny for Richie Havens first album a tune the folk legend performed as the opening act at Woodstock three years laterGossett went on to play an angry man living in a rundown apartment building in Hal Ashbys The Landlord 1970 a con artist opposite James Garner in the slaveryera Skin Game 1971 a drugdealing cutthroat in The Deep 1977 a headmaster in Toy Soldiers 1991 and a downandout boxer in Diggstown 1992 as per The Hollywood ReporterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever