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Louis Gossett Jr., Oscars’ First Black Supporting Actor Winner, Dead at 87
His role as Fiddler in 1977’s Roots also earned him an Emmy.
Born in 1936 in Sheepshead Bay, Gossett made his Broadway debut while he was still in high school, after auditioning for Louis S. Peterson’s 1953 play Take a Giant Step at the behest of his high-school drama teacher. Gossett went on to be a staple of New York theater throughout the ’60s, including acting in Jean Genet’s 1961 play The Blacks, Langston Hughes’s 1963 musical Tambourines to Glory, and Harold Rome’s 1965 work The Zulu and the Zayda. In the years after his win, Gossett stayed busy, earning four more Emmy nominations — with his last coming in 2019 for playing Will Reeves in the Watchmen limited series.
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