Louis Gossett Jr: Remembering the trailblazing actor

Louis Gossett Jr. in his Oscar-winning role in "An Officer and a Gentleman" in 1982.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/80s/comments/1bqsack/rip_to_louis_gossett_jr_aka_sgt_emil_foley/

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“Where you from boy?”
“(Recruit names town).”
“Only two things I know from there, steers and queers…and I don’t see no horns boy!”

Those words were uttered by actor Lou Gossett Jr. on his way to becoming the first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1983.

When I heard today that Louis Gossett Jr. died at the age of 87, it reminded me of “An Officer and a Gentleman” and much more..

Pre-history
Gossett’s big break came in 1977 when he appeared as Fiddler in the epic TV miniseries “Roots”. For his efforts he won an Emmy for the role.

Through the 1970s he appeared in a number of TV shows in guest starring roles, before “Roots”, such as “The Mod Squad”; “The Partridge Family”; “Bonanza”; “Longstreet”; “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”; “Alias Smith and Jones”; “The Rookies”; “Love, American Style”; “”Owen Marshall: Counsellor at Law”; “McCloud”; “Petrocelli”; “Good Times”; “Lucas Tanner”; “Harry O”; “The Jeffersons”; “The Six Million Dollar Man”; “Police Story”; “Little House on the Prairie”; “The Rockford Files”; and more.

After “Roots”, he kept on working, appearing in “Backstairs at the White House”; “The Lazarus Syndrome”, and more. He was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for “Backstairs at the White House”.

He also appeared in a number of theatrical releases, most notably for me, in “The Deep” and “The Choirboys”.

Dawn of the decade
Louis Gossett Jr. began the ‘80s appearing in two shows very near and dear to my heart.

Rural race relations

One show was “Palmerstown, USA” in 1980, a drama set during the Depression about two boys, one black and one white, who become best friends. It also starred a young Michael J. Fox as the older brother of one of the boys.

I loved “Palmerstown, USA”, especially the look into race relations in a small rural, community. However, it was another victim of irregular programming. I would find it one week, then it was gone the next, and back the week after that. What increased my frustration was when an episode opened with “previously on ‘Palmerstown, USA’”. They would show scenes from an episode I had obviously missed, that looked like it would have been a good show.

Gossett was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work in “Palmerstown, USA”.

On the mound

The other show was “Don’t Look Back: The Story of Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige” in 1981. This is one of my favourite baseball movies. Gossett plays the legendary pitcher who starred in the Negro Leagues, only to be barred from the Major Leagues. However, he played long enough not only to see Major League Baseball integrated, but to play in the Major Leagues himself. He even gets a chance to pitch in a World Series, very late in his career, with Cleveland. This movie also looked at some of Paige’s contemporaries and friends, most notably hard-hitting catcher Josh Gibson. There is a touching moment when Paige goes to visit Gibson’s grave shortly after his death, and places a baseball on it.

Interestingly, I saw this movie twice in a relatively short period of time. The first time was when it debuted. The second time was when it was re-aired right after Paige’s death. That second time, I had to go with my parents to visit relatives, and feared I’d miss the movie. Instead, everybody got busy, and I was able to watch the movie, uninterrupted by myself. I distinctly remember crying all over again, in my uncle’s living room, when Satchel placed that baseball on Josh Gibson’s grave.

Groundbreaking
Then, in 1982, Louis Gossett Jr. appeared in a movie that would blaze the trail for African-American actors to follow. He appeared as no nonsense Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman”. The movie is the story of drifter Zack Mayo, played by Richard Gere, who enlists in the United States Navy because he wants to fly jets. He soon runs afoul of a tough gunnery sergeant, and falls in love with a beautiful woman. For his efforts, Gossett won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He Became the first African-American actor to do so. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

African leader
Gossett appeared in another biographical picture in 1983, when he played Anwar Sadat in the aptly titled two-part TV movie “Sadat”. He was the president of Egypt who was able to broker peace with Israel, only to be assassinated. For his efforts, Gossett was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special, and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Anwar Sadat holds a special place in my heart because I did a report on him for Grade 7 social studies. I recall using the Encyclopedia Britannica Yearbooks and handwriting this report late into the night. I also recall getting a good grade.

Star power
During that same period, during the 1982-1983 season, Gossett had a recurring role for 22 episodes in the science fiction TV series “The Powers of Matthew Star”. Peter Barton played the title character, an alien prince who used powers he possessed to fight crime. Gossett played Matthew Star’s guardian.

I recall the release of this show was delayed because of an injury to Peter Barton during production. When it finally debuted, it was on channel 7 of the peasant vision dial. I was kind of intrigued by this show when it was initially supposed to come out. I saw the pilot, I think, but quickly lost track of the show.

It was cancelled after one season.

Enemy Mine
The role I may have enjoyed Gossett most in, I didn’t realize it was actually him until the end of the movie.

In 1985, my friend and neighbour Mat and I went to see “Enemy Mine”. Earth is at war with the Dracs, an alien race that look reptilian. Earth pilot Willis Davidge gets into a dogfight with Drac pilot Jareeba Shigan. They crash an a largely inhospitable planet. They start out trying to kill each other but, ultimately band together because they realize that may be the only way to survive. They became very close.

Jareeba ends up having a child he names Zammis, and dies in childbirth. Before doing so, he teaches Davidge a Drac custom. He is to recite his child’s lineage in the Drac capital so he can join society. 

Ultimately, Zammis is taken away, but saved by Davidge. In the end, Davidge takes Zammis to the Drac home world and recites the Jareeba family line. We also learn when Zammis brings his own child to the capital, the name Willis Davidge has been added to the Jareeba family line.

It was awesome.

I knew Dennis Quaid played Davidge. However, we missed the opening credits and I had seen little about the movie in advance, so only when I read the closing credits did I discover Lou Gossett Jr. had played Jareeba.

He was awesome too.

The rest of the decade in movies
Gossett appeared in a number of other theatrical releases in the ‘80s. He was in “Jaws 3-D” and “Finders Keepers” both in 1983.

In 1984, he was in “The Guardian” where he played a man hired as a security guard at a building suffering through burglaries and murder.

In 1986, Gossett appeared in the first of four “Iron Eagle” movies about pilots. In the first installment, he is part of a team of civilian pilots planning a rescue mission of an American pilot shot down and tried for treason by a fictional Arab state. “Iron Eagle II” came out in 1988; “Aces: Iron Eagle III” in 1991; and “Iron Eagle on the Attack”, also called “Iron Eagle IV”, went straight to video in 1995. Gossett was the only one who appeared in all four films.

He was also in “Firewalker” in 1986, starring opposite Chuck Norris in a comedy where they play treasure hunters seeking a large cache of gold held by the “Firewalker”.

In 1987, Gossett was in “The Principal”. Jim Belushi plays a teacher trying to clean up an inner-city school, while Gossett plays the school’s head of security who initially butts heads with Belushi.

Gossett closed out the decade appearing in “The Punisher” in 1989, a movie starring Dolph Lundgren in the title role, adapted from the Marvel comic book character.

TV time
Gossett was also busy on television.

In 1987 he was in “A Gathering of Old Men”, for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special. That year he was also in “The Father Clements Story” where he played the first American priest to legally adopt a child.

Gossett would also appear in some TV movies and reprise his role as “Fiddler” in 1988 in “Roots: The Gift”.

He closed out the decade playing the title role in “Gideon Oliver” in 1989. It was part of the “ABC Mystery Movie” rotation with three others – “B.L. Stryker”; “Columbo”; and “Kojak”. Gideon Oliver was an anthropology professor who used his knowledge to solve crime. The show lasted five episodes.

The years after
Louis Gossett Jr. just kept on acting pretty much up until he died.

One of the TV performances I recognized included the movie “The Josephine Baker Story” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Others included the movie “Gridiron Gang”; guest spots in series such as “Picket Fences”; “Touched by an Angel” for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series; “Early Edition”; “Ellen”; “Stargate SG-1”; “Family Guy”; “ER”; “Psych”; “Boardwalk Empire”; “Madam Secretary”; “The Good Fight”; “Hawaii Five-O”; “The Watchmen” for which he was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Limited Series or Movie; the miniseries “The Book of Negroes”; and much more.

Some of the movie appearances I recognized were “Toy Soldiers”; “Diggstown”; “Blue Chips”; “Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy”; “Left Behind: World at War”; and much more.

Parting thoughts
Louis Gossett Jr.’s Oscar winning performance in “An Officer and a Gentleman” was anything but a fluke. Not only was it ground breaking, but it was just part of a long line of solid performances that stretches through seven decades.

He was versatile, from action to drama and comedy.

Louis Gossett Jr. really could do it all.

The proof is in his lengthy body of work.