Louis Gossett Jr
Actor
BORN MAY 27, 1936 – DIED MARCH 29, 2024, AGED 87
LOUIS Gossett Jr was best known as the tough-talking drill instructor who put Richard Gere through his paces in 1982 film An Officer And A Gentleman.
He was the first black man to win the best supporting actor Oscar, for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the romantic drama about navy pilots.
Gossett’s portrayal of Foley, with his endless ridiculing of rookie recruits and his bawdy marching songs, established the character as the archetypal US military instructor.
The actor enjoyed a prolific career, appearing in TV series including Roots, Sadat and Watchmen, as well as films such as Jaws 3D and the Iron Eagle franchise.
He was the first male to be shown giving birth on screen, in the 1985 sci-fi film Enemy Mine.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr was born in New York, the only child of a nurse and a porter.
As a youngster he contracted polio, but still managed to play sport at high school before joining a drama club following a basketball injury.
By 17, he had made his Broadway debut, as a troubled child in Take A Giant Step. In 1959 he was cast alongside Sydney Poitier in the play Raisin In The Sun, and reprised the role for his film debut two years later.
Although Gossett appeared in hundreds of TV series and films, he struggled to get big roles in major productions as he was typecast after An Officer And A Gentleman.
In 2006 the actor founded the non-profit Eracism Foundation, dedicated to eradicating racism.
Gossett died in California. No cause was given, but he announced in 2010 that he had prostate cancer.
Married three times, he is survived by his two sons.