Oscar/Emmy Award Winner Louis Gossett Jr. Dies At 87

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Academy Award for his relentless drill instructor “Emil Foley” in An Officer and a Gentleman and an Emmy Award for his turn as “Fiddler” in the 8-part miniseries Roots, died at the age of 87. No cause of death was given, but the actor shared in 2010 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. With his 1982 Oscar win, Gossett became the second Black man to win an acting Oscar (following Sidney Poitier in 1964) and the first to be honored in the “Best Supporting Actor” category. https://twitter.com/THR/status/1773714277133701268 He began his acting career on Broadway. In 1959, he played “George Murchison” in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. He was subsequently cast in the 1961 film adaptation of the play along with his stage co-stars Poitier and Ruby Dee, launching his career in Hollywood. Read more about his long, successful career at The Hollywood Reporter. The tributes from Hollywood luminaries and more have already begun pouring in. https://twitter.com/colmandomingo/status/1773716155724644365 https://twitter.com/levarburton/status/1773714312248619418 https://twitter.com/thesherylralph/status/1773727752455335976 https://twitter.com/IAMJHUD/status/1773760802673029140 https://twitter.com/MsVivicaFox/status/1773717033617924559 https://twitter.com/sagaftra/status/1773724425558311197 https://twitter.com/NAACP/status/1773724893282013498 https://www.instagram.com/p/C5GijchuEr1/