Louis Gossett, Jr.

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Louis Gossett, Jr.
Image:LouisGossettJrTorontoFilmFestival2005.jpg Louis Gossett Jr at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival
Birth name	Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr.
Born	May 27 1936 (1936-05-27) (age 73) Brooklyn, New York
Spouse(s)	Hattie Glascoe (annulled) Christina Mangosing (1973-1975) Cyndi James (1987-1992)
Awards Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor 1982 An Officer and a Gentleman Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor - Miniseries or a Movie 1977 Roots Daytime Emmy - Outstanding Children's Special 1998 In His Father's Shoes Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture 1983 An Officer and a Gentleman Best Supporting Actor - Series/Miniseries/TV Movie 1992 The Josephine Baker Story NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture 1982 An Officer and a Gentleman Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series 1998 Touched by an Angel

Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. (born May 27 1936) is an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award winning American actor.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Charity Work 2 Filmography 3 Television 4 Watch 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Louis Gossett, Jr. was born in Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. He was raised by his mother Hellen Rebecca Wray Gossett and his father, Louis Gossett, Sr. A sports injury left Gossett, Jr. with no choice but to take an acting class, and at 16 he made his stage debut in the school's production of You Can't Take It with You.

After graduating high school, he attended New York University, on an athletic scholarship, where he was a star basketball player. The New York Knicks were so impressed with Gossett's athletic ability, that they offered a professional contract upon graduation. He played with them briefly in 1958, before choosing to focus completely on his acting career.

[edit] Career

After leaving the New York Knicks, Gossett stepped into the world of cinema in the Sidney Poitier vehicle A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.

Since his film debut, Gossett has continued working. He has starred in numerous film productions such as The Deep, An Officer and a Gentleman, Jaws 3-D (as SeaWorld manager Calvin Bouchard), Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher. His role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman (opposite Richard Gere) showcased his talent and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1986, he starred in another role as a military man in the film Iron Eagle. It was followed by three sequels.

Gossett's Broadway theatre credits include A Raisin in the Sun (1959), Golden Boy (1964), and Chicago (2002).

He also has performed in other media, including television productions. In fact, it was his Emmy award-winning role of "Fiddler" in the 1977 groundbreaking television miniseries Roots that first brought Gossett to the audience's attention. In 1983, Gossett was cast in the title role in Sadat, a miniseries which chronicled the life and assassination of Anwar Sadat. While filming An Officer and a Gentleman, Gossett was also starring in the 1982–1983 science fiction series, The Powers of Matthew Star.

Gossett is the voice of the Vortigaunts in the video game Half-Life 2 (although he did not return for it's sequel Episode Two) and is also the Free Jaffa Leader (Gerak) in Season 9 of Stargate SG-1.

He also played the role of US President Gerald Fitzhugh in the movie Left Behind: World at War.

As of June 2007, Gossett recorded several commercials for a (Nashville) based diabetic company, AmMed Direct, LLC.

Gossett provides the voice of Lucius Fox in The Batman.

[edit] Charity Work

In 2007, Lou Gossett, Jr., was the honored guest and keynote speaker for the alumni hall of fame gala benefiting Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Gossett has appeared every year supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He is an alumnus himself and has continued to work for and with the organization.

[edit] Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1961	A Raisin in the Sun	George Murchison
1969	The Bushbaby	Tembo
1970	The Landlord	Copee
	Leo the Last	Roscoe
1971	Skin Game	Jason O'Rourke
1972	Travels with My Aunt	Zachary/'Wordsworth'
1973	The Laughing Policeman	Insp. James Larrimore SFPD
	The Fuzz Brothers	Francis Fuzz
1974	The White Dawn	Portagee
1976	J. D.'s Revenge	Rev. Elija Bliss
	The River Niger	Dr. Dudley Stanton
1977	The Choirboys	Calvin Motts
	The Deep	Henri Cloche
1980	It Rained All Night the Day I Left	Leo Garcia
1982	An Officer and a Gentleman	Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley	Academy Award; Golden Globe Award; NAACP Image Award
1983	Jaws 3-D	Calvin Bouchard	Razzie Award (nominated)
1984	Finders Keepers	Century
1985	Enemy Mine	Jeriba 'Jerry' Shigan	Saturn Award (nominated)
1986	Firewalker	Leo Porter
	Iron Eagle	Chappy Sinclair
1987	The Principal	Jake Phillips
1988	Iron Eagle II	Chappy Sinclair
1989	The Punisher	Jake Berkowitz
1991	Toy Soldiers	Dean Parker
	Cover Up	Lou Jackson
1993	Monolith	Capt. MacCandless
	Flashfire	Ben Durand
1992	Diggstown	'Honey' Roy Palmer
	Aces: Iron Eagle III	Chappy Sinclair
1993	Flashfire	Ben Durand
	Monolith	Capt. MacCandless
1994	Curse of the Starving Class	Ellis
	A Good Man in Africa	Prof. Sam Adekunle
	Blue Chips	Father Dawkins
1995	Iron Eagle IV	Chappy Sinclair
1996	Managua	Paul
1997	Legend of the Mummy	Corbeck
	The Wall That Heals	Narrator
1999	Y2K	Morgan
2000	The Highwayman	Phil Bishop
2002	Deceived	Col. David Garrett
2005	Left Behind: World at War	President Gerald Fitzhugh
	Window	Ralph Stanley
2006	Club Soda	Doc
	All In	Caps
2007	Cover	Det. Hicks
	Daddy's Little Girls	Willie
2008	Delgo	Zahn (voice)	post-production
	The B.A.M.N. Squad		post-production
	The Perfect Game	Cool Papa Bell	post-production
	The Least Among You	Samuel Benton	filming
	The Real Catch	Police Chief	announced
Buttermilk Sky	Judge Stanton	pre-production

[edit] Television

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2007	The Batman	Lucius Fox
2005-2006	Stargate SG-1	Gerak
2005	Lackawanna Blues	Ol'lem Taylor
	Solar Attack	President Ryan Gordon
2004	Half & Half	Ray Willis	Episode: The Big Lover, My Brother Episode Episode: The Big Thanks for Nothing Episode
2003	Momentum	Raymond Addison
	Jasper, Texas	R.C. Horn	Image Award (nominated)
	The Dead Zone	Pastor David Lewis	Episode: Zion
2002	Resurrection Blvd.	Ezekiel 'Zeke' Grant	Episode: En Un Momento Episode: Esperando Lagrimas
	What About Your Friends: Weekend Getaway	Dr. Barnes
	Opening Ceremony Salt Lake Paralympic Winter Games	Narrator
2001	For Love of Olivia	Daniel Stewart
2000	The Color of Love: Jacey's Story	Lou Hastings	Satellite Award (nominated)
	The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence	Inspector Frank Hughes
	Dr. Lucille	David Mulera
1999	Strange Justice	Vernon Jordan
	Love Songs	Reuben	Segment: A Love Song for Dad Black Reel Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
1998	The Inspectors	Inspector Frank Hughes
1997	Ellen	Sgt. Timko	Episode: G.I. Ellen
	Early Edition	Jim Matthews	Episode: The Medal
	In His Father's Shoes	Frank Crosby/Richard	CableACE Award (nominated) Daytime Emmy Award (won-1) (nominated-1)
	To Dance with Olivia	Daniel Stewart
	Touched by an Angel	Anderson Walker	Episode: Amazing Grace (1) Episode: Amazing Grace (2) Emmy Award (nominated) Image Award (won)
1996	Inside	Questioner
	Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story	Bob Kersee
	Captive Heart: The James Mink Story	James Mink	Image Award (nominated)
1995	Ray Alexander: A Menu for Murder	Ray Alexander
	Zooman	Rueben Tate
	A Father for Charlie	Walter Osgood
1994	Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice	Ray Alexander
	Picket Fences	Rick Jennings	Episode: Terms of Estrangement
1993	Return to Lonesome Dove	Isom Pickett
	Father & Son: Dangerous Relations
	Story of a People	Host
1991	Keeper of the City	Det. James Dela
	Carolina Skeletons	James Bragg
	The Josephine Baker Story	Sidney Williams	Golden Globe Award (won)
1990	Sudie and Simpson	Simpson
	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Commander Clash
	El Diablo	Van Leek
1989	Gideon Oliver	Gideon Oliver
1988	Roots: The Gift	Fiddler
	Goodbye, Miss 4th of July	Big John Creed
	Sam Found Out: A Triple Play
1987	The Father Clements Story	Father Clements
	A Gathering of Old Men	Mathu	Emmy Award (nominated)
1984	The Guardian	John Mack	CableACE Award (nominated)
1982-1983	The Powers of Matthew Star	Walter 'Walt' Shepherd/D'Hai
1983	Sadat	Anwar al-Sadat	Emmy Award (nominated) Golden Globe Award (nominated)
1982	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: Louis Gossett Jr/George Thorogood & The Destroyers
	Benny's Place	Benny Moore
	American Playhouse		Episode: Zora is My Name!
1981	Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige	Leroy 'Satchel' Paige
1980	Palmerstown, USA		Emmy Award (nominated)
1979	The Lazarus Syndrome	Dr. MacArthur St. Clair
	Lawman Without a Gun	Tom Hayward
	Backstairs at the White House	Levi Mercer	Emmy Award (nominated)
1978	The Critical List	Lem Harper
	To Kill a Cop	Everett Walker
	The Sentry Collection Presents Ben Vereen: His Roots		Emmy Award (nominated)
	The Lazarus Syndrome	Dr. MacArthur St. Clair
1976-1977	The Rockford Files	Marcus 'Gabby' Hayes	Episode: Foul on the First Play Episode: Just Another Polish Wedding
1977	Visions	Rex	Episode: Freeman
	Roots	Fiddler	Emmy Award (won) TV Land Awards (won)
	Little Ladies of the Night	Russ Garfield
1975-1976	Police Story	Freddie Virgil Barnes	Episode: The Cut Man Caper Episode: 50 Cents-First Half Hour, $1.75 All Day
1976	Little House on the Prairie	Henry Hill	Episode: The Long Road Home
1974-1975	Good Times	Donald Knight Uncle Wilbert	Episode: Thelma's Young Man Episode: Michael's Big Fall
	Petrocelli	D.A. Kurt Olson	Episode: A Very Lonely Lady Episode: A Fallen Idol
1975	The Six Million Dollar Man	O'Flaherty	Episode: Clark Templeton O’Flaherty
	The Jeffersons	Wendell Brown	Episode: George's Best Friend
	Harry O	Cleon Jackson	Episode: Shades
	Caribe	David Wallace	Episode: The Assassin
	Delancey Street: The Crisis Within	Otis James
	Samaritan: The Mitch Snyder Story	Hank Dudney
	Black Bart	Black Bart
	Lucas Tanner	Bobby Koball	Episode: Bonus Baby
1974	McCloud	Dewey Justin	Episode: Shivaree on Delancy Street
	The White Dawn	Portagee
	Sidekicks	Jason O'Rourke	TV remake of Gossett's 1971 Skin Game
	It's Good to Be Alive	Sam Brockington
1973	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law		Episode: An Often and Familiar Ghost
1968-1969, 1972	The Mod Squad	Smitty Lloyd Charley Jameson	Episode: When Smitty Comes Marching Home Episode: The Uptight Town Episode: Can You Hear Me Out There?
1972	Love, American Style		Segment: Love and the Christmas Punch...
	The Rookies	Toby Jones	Episode: Covenant with Death
	The Living End	Doug Newman
	Insight		Episode: The Man from Inner Space
1970-1971	The Young Rebels	Isak Poole
1971	Cade's County		Episode: The Alien Land
	Alias Smith and Jones	Joe Sims	Episode: The Bounty Hunter
	The Bold Ones: The New Doctors	Dr. Karnes	Episode: One Lonely Step
	Longstreet	Sergeant Cory	Episode: The Way of the Intercepting Fist
	Bonanza	Buck Walter	Episode: The Desperado
	The Partridge Family	Sam	Episode: Soul Club
	Big Fish, Little Fish
1970	The Bill Cosby Show	Hurricane Smith	Episode: The Return of Big Bad Bubba Bronson
1967, 1968	Cowboy in Africa	Fulah Hemera	Episode: Fang and Claw Episode: The Quiet Death
1968	Companions in Nightmare	Lt. Adam McKay
	Daktari	Mkono	Episode: Adam and Jenny
	The Invaders	Ollie	Episode: The Vise
1962	The Nurses	William Taylor	Episode: The Prisoner
1958	The Big Story	Jamie Goodwin	Episode: The Stubbornest Man

[edit] Watch

Interview with Louis Gossett, Jr. (8 min., free)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Louis Gossett, Jr. at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by John Gielgud for Arthur

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1982 for An Officer and a Gentleman

Succeeded by Jack Nicholson for Terms of Endearment

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