Louis Gossett Jr., an incredible actor who became the first Black man to win the Oscar for best supporting actor, died at the age of 87 on Thursday.
Gossett Jr. was born in Brooklyn and ended up in so many roles on television and the movies before breakthrough roles in Roots and An Officer and a Gentleman, which is the movie he won the Academy Award. Since then, you’ve seen him in so many other roles, perhaps most recently in the remake of The Color Purple.
As we look back at his incredible body of work, here are some of his best roles that we’ll remember: