Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr., best known for his celebrated work in Roots and An Officer and a Gentleman, has died. He was 87.
"It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning," Gossett Jr.'s family said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE Friday. "We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family's privacy during this difficult time."
The Associated Press was first to report news of Gossett's death after the actor's nephew told the outlet that he died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California. No cause of death has yet been revealed.
Born in New York City, Gossett got his acting start on Broadway inTake a Giant Step in 1953 — when he was still a student at Abraham Lincoln High School. As he explained in a 1991 conversation with Bob Costas, he had "a pretty promising career in high school."
"'They're looking for a young, Black kid to play a lead in a Broadway show called Take a Giant Step. They can't find anybody in the business, so they're going to the high schools. 'Tell your mother to take you down there,'" he recalled being told. "So, that's how I got in show business."
MALIBU, CA - JULY 14: Louis Gossett Jr. attends the HollyRod 20th Annual DesignCare at Cross Creek Farm on July 14, 2018 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for HollyRod Foundation)8BIM
Louis Gossett Jr. attends the HollyRod 20th Annual DesignCare in 2018.
Tiffany Rose/Getty
In the years that followed, Gossett attended New York University and acted in Broadway's The Desk Set in 1955 and 1956. His film debut came with 1961's A Raisin in the Sun, which has since been entered into the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. The movie was released two years after the original Lorraine Hansberry play premiered on Broadway, with Gossett acting alongside the legendary Sidney Poitier.
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“I was in awe of that man — his experience and strength,” Gossett told PEOPLE of the late Sidney Poitier in 2024. “I supported him, and he supported me.”
At the beginning of his film career in the 1960s, Gossett also performed as a folk musician (“I passed the brass playing in the coffee shops down in the Village,” he told PEOPLE) and played sports. He even turned down a potential professional basketball stint to focus on acting. “I was at rookie training for the [New York] Knicks when I got a call from Lorraine Hansberry to be a part of A Raisin in the Sun,” Gossett told PEOPLE.
Actor Lou Gossett Jr. portrait session, October 31, 1985 in Los Angeles, California.
Lou Gossett Jr. photographed in 1985.
Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
“They said the part comes with a $700 per diem, more money than most professional athletes had in the bank at the time. I put the basketball down, and the rest is history," he added.
After moving to Los Angeles in the '60s to focus on film and television, his next breakthrough role came in 1977, when he played Fiddler in Roots, earning an Emmy award for outstanding lead actor in a single appearance in a drama or comedy series. He later admitted that he was initially hesitant to take the gig.
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Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock (5883855g) Louis Gossett Jr, Richard Gere An Officer and A Gentleman - 1982 Director: Taylor Hackford Paramount USA Scene Still Comedy/Drama Officier et Gentleman
Louis Gossett Jr. and Richard Gere in 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman.
Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
"I said, 'Well, how come they saved the 'Uncle Tom' [role], for me?' I hide the insult that hit me in the pit of my stomach," Gossett told ScreenRant of being offered the role. "Then I said, 'Well, I'm not going to turn this down, because I want to be part of this thing.... It's a challenge to bring that resurrection character as a survivor in America, who does not remember being a slave, for him to survive. Without Fiddler, Kunta Kinte does not exist."
After Roots, Gossett enjoyed big-screen success with his role as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman. The film earned Gossett an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor — making him the first Black performer to win the Supporting Actor Oscar.
"They had hired another actor who was White, but when director Taylor Hackford found out that 75% of the Marine DI's were Black, they paid him off and hired me. I went down to San Diego Marine Corps to learn for six weeks," he told PEOPLE in 2024. "When I showed up on set, I was a marine."
As for the Oscar win, Gossett recalled in a CBS Sunday Morning interview that he didn't believe it at first, and that his agent "hit me on my chest and s