Louis Gossett Jr., a dynamic and commanding actor from Coney Island, Brooklyn, who turned down a spot on the New York Knicks to embark upon a barrier-breaking stage and screen career that won him ...

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as a gunnery sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman, has died. He was 87.

FILE – Louis Gossett Jr., poses with the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” at the annual Academy Awards presentation in Los Angeles on April 11, 1983.

FILE - Louis Gossett Jr., poses with the Emmy he received for his role in the TV drama "Roots," at the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences awards show in Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 1977.

Louis Gossett Jr., who won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hard-as-nails drill instructor in 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” a few years after winning an Emmy for his role as ...

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Oscar in An Officer and a Gentleman and an Emmy in the landmark miniseries Roots, among other career accomplishments, has died. He was 87. Gossett’s nephew told The ...

Louis Gossett Jr., who was the first Black man to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the 1982 romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, has died. He was 87.

Louis Gossett Jr. poses for a portrait in New York to promote the release of “Roots: The Complete Original Series” on Bu-ray on May 11, 2016. (Amy Sussman/Invision/AP, File) ...

FILE – Louis Gossett Jr., poses with the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” at the annual Academy Awards presentation in Los Angeles on April 11, 1983.

Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries "Roots," has died. He was 87.