With every new role that he played, Louis Gossett Jr. wowed the worlds of theater and film. He graduated from high school in 1954 and received both a basketball and drama scholarship from New York University, per Britannica. His next Broadway appearance was in “The Desk Set” in 1955, and in 1959, after graduating from college, Gossett became part of the original cast for “A Raisin in the Sun,” via IBDB. He then performed in “Tambourines to Glory,” “Golden Boy,” and “The Zulu and the Zayda.”
At the same time, Gossett earned small roles in TV series such as “The Big Story” and “The Doctors and the Nurses.” He reprised his role for the film adaptation of “A Raisin in the Sun” in 1961, though he noted in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation that the film “wasn’t as important as the play.” He explained, “The relevant pieces of ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ had to be sand-papered down for the benefit of a non-Black audience.”
Despite the story being watered down, Gossett and the cast earned tremendous acclaim for their performances, and Gossett continued to earn more opportunities in Hollywood. In 1970, he co-starred in the series “The Young Rebels,” though the show didn’t last very long. He appeared in many minor TV shows and films, including the movie “Travels with my Aunt” in 1972, and his 1977 performance in the miniseries “Roots” won him an Emmy Award, via IMDb. Gossett also did quite a bit of voice work, such as in an episode of the TV series based on the Disney classic “Hercules,” the video game “Half-Life 2,” and the show “The Batman.”
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