Sitcom star who won two Emmy awards

TERRY Crews was among the Hollywood stars remembering Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Andre Braugher for his “irreplaceable talent” following his death aged 61.

The two-time Emmy winning actor starred as Captain Raymond Holt in the US sitcom alongside Crews, Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio and Melissa Fumero, playing New York police officers in Brooklyn’s fictional 99th Precinct.

Braugher died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist Jennifer Allen said.

During his established career, Braugher was nominated for 11 Emmy Awards, four of which were for his role in Brooklyn Nine-Nine which first aired in 2013 and ended after eight seasons in 2021.

Crews, who played Lieutenant Terry Jeffords in the comedy, paid tribute to US star Braugher who was “gone so soon”, ending the caption with £ninenine in reference to a fanfavourite saying on the show.

“I’m honoured to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared eight glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent,” Crews said on Instagram.

“This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much. I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you. Thank you for your wisdom, your advice, your kindness and your friendship.

“...You showed me what a life well lived looks like.”

Meanwhile actor Marc Evan Jackson, who played Braugher’s onscreen husband in Brooklyn NineNine, shared a picture of the pair hugging while on set, wearing their wedding rings.

He captioned the post on X, formerly Twitter: “O Captain. My Captain.”

Braugher received an Emmy Award in 1998 for outstanding lead actor in a drama series following his role as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life On The Street - which ran from 1993 until 1999.

The actor met his wife Ami Brabson during his time on the US drama, and they later had three children.

David Simon, who wrote Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets which inspired the series, said Braugher’s death was “too damn soon”.

“I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better,” he said on X.

“Stunned and thinking of Ami and his sons and so many memories of this good man that are now a blessing.”

Braugher later won an Emmy Award in 2006 for outstanding performance by a lead actor in a miniseries for his starring role in Thief, where he played professional burglar Nick Atwater, which also won him a Golden Globe nomination.

His break-out role was in the 1990 film Glory directed by Ed Zwick, alongside Hollywood stars Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won his first Academy Award for his supporting role in the film.

Other notable credits include starring as Benjamin O Davis in Tuskegee Airmen, Dr Ben Gideon in Gideon’s Crossing, which won him a Golden Globe nomination, and Owen in Men Of A Certain Age, all roles which won him Emmy Award nominations.

Mike Royce, who co-created Men Of A Certain Age, said on X: “This is impossible for me to process. He was best actor in the world. An incredible human being. An incomprehensible loss.”

Braugher most recently starred in She Said, the biographical drama which sees Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the investigative journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein story.

Other credits include starring in 2010 film Salt opposite Angelina Jolie; Passengers in 2008 alongside Anne Hathaway; Duets in 2000 with Gwyneth Paltrow; 1998’s City Of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan; as well as working alongside Alec Baldwin in 1999’s Thick As Thieves and Primal Fear with Richard Gere in 1996.

He also starred in 2006 action film Poseidon, alongside Sweet Home Alabama star Josh Lucas.

Posting a picture of the pair on Instagram, Lucas wrote: “The great Andre Braugher passed away today. He was one of the first actors I ever worked with. And years later we did Poseidon together.

“I saw him perform Shakespeare in the Park and it was beyond memorable. It was an early preview and towards the end during his monologue as Henry V he just stopped. Dead stop. Silence.

“He put his head down and clearly we all realise he had forgotten his lines. The pause lasted what seemed an eternity and then like lightning he whipped his head up and exploded with greatness, word perfect.

“It was a performance I will always remember. He was an actor and man I always deeply respect.”