Louis Gossett Jr., who played a tough drill instructor in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” became the first Black man to win an Oscar for best supporting actor. He passed away. He was eighty-seven.
According to several US media reports, Gossett passed away in Los Angeles on Thursday night, although his family did not disclose the reason for his death.
Gossett starred in over 60 films before winning an Academy Award in 1983 for his supporting performance as a tough gunnery sergeant in Taylor Hackford’s “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He was the third Black actor to earn the honor, following Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier.
The actor won a Golden Globe for the film as well. Later, he won an Emmy for the eight-part ABC miniseries “Roots,” and another supporting actor Globe for “The Josephine Baker Story.”
The New Yorker, who revealed in 2010 that he was suffering from prostate cancer, developed a tough man persona that helped him succeed in a number of action films, such as “The Punisher” (1989) and “Iron Eagle” (1986).In his biography, “An Actor and a Gentleman,” Gossett detailed his traumatic experiences as a groundbreaking Black actor, including his first visit to Los Angeles in the 1960s, during which he was stopped by the police four times in one vehicle drive.
“The only time I was really free was when the director said ‘action’ in front of a camera or on the stage and that’s when I flew,” he told The LA Times in 2008.
