A barrier-breaking actor has sadly passed away.
Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, has died at 87.
The news was broken by Gossett’s nephew who told The Associated Press that the actor passed away Thursday night in Santa Monica, California.
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No cause of death was revealed.
His family has since released a statement to BOSSIP confirming the news.
“It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning,” it reads. “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
During Gossett’s storied career, he excelled and won a groundbreaking Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1983 for his portrayal of the hard-as-nails Navy flight school sergeant who takes on Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman. The win made him just the second Black man to win an acting Oscar, following Sidney Poitier’s Best Actor win in 1964.
He also won a Golden Globe for An Officer and a Gentleman and went on to pen a memoir titled “An Actor and a Gentleman.”
In it, he said that his Oscar win was “a huge affirmation” of his “position as a Black actor.”
“The Oscar gave me the ability of being able to choose good parts in movies like ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat’ and ‘Iron Eagle,’” Gossett said in Dave Karger’s 2024 book “50 Oscar Nights,’” he wrote according to AP.
He also shared in the tome that his Oscar was in storage.
“I’m going to donate it to a library so I don’t have to keep an eye on it,” AP reports he wrote in the book. “I need to be free of it.”
On the small screen, Gossett was widely known for his role as Fiddler in the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries Roots which he starred in alongside Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton, and John Amos. Gossett went on to win an Emmy for his role in Roots.
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We’re sending sincere condolences to the family and friends of the incomparable Louis Gossett, Jr.