Louis Gossett Jr., Trailblazing Actor of “Roots,” Passes Away at 87

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black actor to win an Oscar and an Emmy for his role in “Roots,” has died in Los Angeles. He was 87.

Gossett’s cousin Neal L. Gossett confirmed his death in California. A statement from the family said Gossett died Friday morning. No cause of death was revealed.

“Gossett’s cousin recalled him as someone who stood with Nelson Mandela.” Never mind the awards, never mind the glitz and glamor, the Rolls-Royces, and the big houses in Malibu. It’s about the humanity of the people that he stood for,” his cousin said.

Gossett’s cousin recalled a man who walked with Nelson Mandela, a great joke teller, and a relative who fought racism with dignity and humor.”

Gossett’s cousin recalled a relative who walked with Nelson Mandela and fought racism with humor. The sprawling cast included Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton, and John Amos.

Gossett became the third Black Oscar nominee in the supporting actor category in 1983. Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and was a great joketeller. He faced racism with dignity and humor. He also won a Golden Globe for the same role.

“More than anything, it was a huge affirmation of my position as a Black actor,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir, “An Actor and a Gentleman.”

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Gossett’s cousin remembered a man who walked with Nelson Mandela and fought racism with dignity and humor. “I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he wrote in his memoir.

His English teacher urged him to go to Manhattan to try out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at age 16.

“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”

Gossett attended New York University on a basketball and drama scholarship. He sang and acted on TV shows hosted by Susskind, Sullivan, Buttons, Griffin, Paar, and Allen.

Gossett learned acting with Monroe, Dean, Landau, and McQueen.

Gossett was praised for his role in the 1959 Broadway production of “A Raisin in the Sun” with Poitier, Dee, and Sands.

He went on to become a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964.

Racism, LA-style

Gossett went to Hollywood for the first time in 1961 to make the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun. ” He had bitter memories of that trip, staying in a cockroach-infested motel that was one of the few places to allow Black people.

Lou Gossett, Jr., tells of his harsh introduction to Hollywood

This time, Gossett was booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel and Universal Studios had rented him a convertible. He was stopped by a sheriff who told him to turn down the radio and put up the car’s roof while driving back to the hotel after picking up the car.

He was stopped by eight sheriff’s officers, who made him open the trunk and call the car rental agency before letting him go. “Though I understood that I had no choice but to put up with this abuse, it was a terrible way to be treated, a humiliating way to feel,” Gossett wrote in his memoir. “I realized this was happening because I was Black and had been showing off with a fancy car — which, in their view, I had no right to be driving.”

After dinner, he walked but was stopped by police for breaking a law against nighttime walks in Beverly Hills. They handcuffed him to a tree for three hours. He was eventually freed when the original police car returned.

“Now I had come face-to-face with racism, and it was an ugly sight,” he wrote. “But it was not going to destroy me.”

In the late 1990s, Gossett said he was pulled over by police on the Pacific Coast Highway while driving his restored 1986 Rolls Royce Corniche II. The officer told him he looked like someone they were searching for, but the officer recognized Gossett and left.

He founded the Eracism Foundation to help create a world where racism doesn’t exist.

A near-miss with the Manson family

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Gossett appeared as a guest on “Bonanza,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Mod Squad,” “McCloud,” and “The Partridge Family.”

In August 1969, Gossett had been partying with members of the Mamas and the Papas when they were invited to actor Sharon Tate’s house. He headed home first to shower and change clothes. As he was getting ready to leave, he caught a news flash on TV about Tate’s murder. “Gossett credited the Oscar for helping him land roles in acclaimed movies such as ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat,’ and ‘Iron Eagle. “Gossett credited the Oscar for helping him land roles in acclaimed movies such as ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat,’ and ‘Iron Eagle’.”ates that night. “There had to be a reason for my escaping this bullet,” he wrote.

Louis Cameron Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York, to Louis Sr., a porter, and Hellen, a nurse. He later added Jr. to his name to honor his father.

“Gossett credited the Oscar for helping him land roles in acclaimed movies such as ‘Enemy Mine,’ ‘Sadat,’ and ‘Iron Eagle’.”

He said his statue was in storage.

“I’m going to donate it to a library so I don’t have to keep an eye on it,” he said in the book. “I need to be free of it.”

Wins but no leads

Gossett won a Golden Globe for “The Josephine Baker Story” and appeared in TV movies like “The Story of Satchel Paige,” “Backstairs at the White House,” and “Roots Revisited.”

But he said winning an Oscar didn’t change the fact that all his roles were supporting ones.

He played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.”

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Gossett struggled with alcohol and cocaine addiction for years after his Oscar win. He went to rehab, where he was diagnosed with toxic mold syndrome, which he attributed to his house in Malibu.

In 2010, Gossett announced he had prostate cancer, which he said was caught in the early stages. In 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19.

Surviving him are two sons: Satie, a producer-director from his second marriage, and Sharron, a chef he adopted after seeing him on TV. His first cousin is actor Robert Gossett.

Gossett’s first marriage to Hattie Glascoe was annulled. His second, to Christina Mangosing, ended in divorce in 1975 as did his third to actor Cyndi James-Reese in 1992.