(DailyDig.com) – Actor Louis Gossett Jr., famous for his Oscar-winning role in “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1982, died on the morning of March 29 at 87 years old.
Gossett’s family reported his death, but no cause has been made public. Their statement expressed their grief regarding his death. They declared their appreciation for his friends and fans who shared their condolences with them.
He was born in Brooklyn, and, due to an injury playing sports in school, he took an acting class. His first debut on the stage was at age 17, when he acted in the school play “You Can’t Take It With You.” Despite receiving a scholarship for athletics, he chose to pursue theater at NYU.
Gossett’s debut on Broadway was in the 1953 show, “Take a Giant Step.” Critics in New York named that show among the ten best plays that year. Variety mentioned his work for that play even though he did not have any formal acting training at the time.
He appeared in several plays, movies, and television shows, including “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Golden Boy,” “Murderous Angels,” “Chicago,” “Roots,” and “The Reason.” He was in the remake in 2023 of “The Color Purple.”
His role as Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman” won him the first Oscar given to a black man in the best supporting actor category. In 2010, Gossett wrote in his memoir “An Actor and a Gentleman” that this role affirmed him as an actor who is black more than anything he has accomplished.
Other movies that garnered Gossett notoriety were “Enemy Mine” from 1985 and “Iron Eagle” from 1986. In “Enemy Mine,” he was cast as an alien who changed from enemies to friends when he and his foe, played by Dennis Quaid, crashed on the same deserted planet. In “Iron Eagle,” he was a veteran of the Air Force who aided a young man to find and rescue his father.
He is survived by his sons, Satie and Sharron, and his first cousin, Robert Gossett.
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