Veteran Actor Bridged Civil Rights Era

Actor Louis Gossett Jr. has passed at 87. He was the first black actor to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman. He also won an Emmy Award as a lead actor for the groundbreaking miniseries Roots. He began acting during the civil rights era appearing in many TV shows like The Rockford Files, Bonanza, and The Partridge Family and major films like the Iron Eagle films, Enemy Mine, and The Deep. He had recent roles on the miniseries Watchmen and the film musical The Color Purple. He has a number of forthcoming projects including the fantasy IF. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago at the MidAtlantic Nostalgia Comvention. He told me he had studied martial arts before filming An Officer and a Gentleman. He was really nice, a true gentleman.