Early Life and Career BeginningsBorn on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, Louis Gossett Jr. showed an early talent for acting. He made his Broadway debut in 1953 with the play 'Take a Giant ...

Louis Gossett Jr, the first black man to ... Gossett also won an Emmy in 1978 for his role in Roots, the ground-breaking TV mini-series about slavery. His death was confirmed by his family to ...