Lou Gossett Jr. Always Had a Place to Go

Over the sixty-plus years and exactly 200 credits that Louis Gossett Jr. amassed on screen, he is largely associated with just three roles: Fiddler in the groundbreaking mini-series Roots, Drill Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman, and Will Reeves in Watchmen. 

That’s not to say that Gossett didn’t do other fine work on film and TV, it’s just that much of it was overlooked, under seen, or just forgotten. There’s a reason for that. Gossett was a working actor, a so-called character actor, and he was black—meaning to keep paychecks coming, he had to keep working, and often the work he had to take was not up to his extraordinary skill as an actor. 

While I’ll surely cover those three plumb roles, it’s my hope that I can sprinkle in some things that you might have missed, that might be unknown to you, or that might not be all that great, but are worth seeing for Gossett alone.  

Gossett’s big break came not on screen, but in 1959. on stage, playing George Murchison in the classic play A Raisin in the Sun. Gossett would go on to reprise that role in Daniel Petrie’s great adaptation, starring (like the play) Sidney Poitier in 1961. Instead of catapulting Gossett to greater fame, he found himself toiling away in bit parts and movies and episodic TV until 1977, when he scored the plum role of “Fiddler” on the landmark series Roots. Fiddler was not only a talented musician during America’s slave days (a gift that probably extended his life), he was also a mentor to Levar Burton’s lead character Kunta Kinte. For his work on the production, Gossett earned his first Emmy nomination. Emmy nominations followed in 1978, 1979, and 1981 for a Ben Vereen special, Backstairs at the White House, and Palmerston USA (which also starred Micheal J. Fox and Morgan Freeman).

But it was through Roots and its eye-opening depiction (at least by the standards of TV at the time) that opened many an American eye about the horrors of slavery, and even if it plays a little bit dated now, it is still a powerful and necessary document that is still relevant to this day. The series won Gossett an Emmy and became his calling card for years to come. Leading to roles like the hit film The Deep later in ‘77.

Despite being in two high profile projects in one year, Gossett would have to wait four years for the role of his lifetime: Drill Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman. While Gossett may not have been the lead (that honor went to naval recruit Richard Gere and Debra Winger), it was Gossett who controlled every scene. Most of us are used to military films with tough drill sergeants, but Foley was something else altogether. At first, Foley’s brash ferocity seems to be lacking in all human quality, but as the film progresses, Foley and Mayo (Gere) engage in a bottle of wills due to Foley’s hard line, and Mayo’s willing to cross it. 

Foley nearly has Mayo broken, making him do an endless amount of push ups while Foley sprays him relentlessly with frigid hose water. Still, Mayo won’t quit. So Foley tells him he’s going to take his discharge whether he likes it or not. In full desperation, Mayo lets his guard down to Foley and admits “I got no place to go!” In that moment, ever so subtly, you see Foley’s face change. Empathy creeps in just around the edges, and Foley gives Mayo a break.

In most military movies drill sergeants are played in a very one note fashion (even when effective—see R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket), but it’s that little bit of humanity that Foley sneaks in that more than out does his often hilarious (and very off color) one-liners. But it’s that peak behind the mask that makes Gossett’s performance.  Gossett won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the film, and I’ve never heard a single argument against his victory. What makes Gossett’s performance so great is that moment in the rain. His Foley was unforgiving, hard as nails, torturous even, but Gere’s Mayo got to him. Maybe once Foley had no place to go either. And so Foley made space for him, against his better instincts. 

As a 45-year-old black actor in the ‘80s, Gossett was not going to have the career he was capable of, but he did make the most of what was available to him.

Gossett was nominated for an Emmy for a Ben Vereen special in 1978, he was nominated again in ‘79 for the mini-series Backstairs at the White House, and again in ‘81 for Palmerston USA co-starring Michael J. Fox and Morgan Freeman, he was also nominated as a lead for playing Anwar Al-Sadat in ‘84 for Sadat. He was also nominated as a lead in 1987’s A Gathering of Old Men, and as a guest actor in 1997 in Touched By An Angel. 

But it was his majestic, wheelchair bound performance in Damon Lindelof’s reimagining of Watchmen that felt like a true career capper. As a key character who was elderly and infirmed, Gossett owned every scene he was in. He was simply extraordinary in the ease of his power despite having the asset of movement taken from him. Gossett was nominated for an Emmy as Best Supporting Actor for Watchmen, and it will always be a mystery to me how he didn’t win. But awards are fleeting, merely a reflection of time. It’s the performance that lasts forever, and Gossett’s William Reeves is eternal. It’s also worthy of note that Gossett’s season in the sun ended with the very successful musical version of The Color Purple. He went out like the pro he always was.

The funny thing about Gossett for me is that one of my favorite roles of his is not his best or most prestigious.  Back in 1987, Gossett played a supporting character as a jaded janitor/enforcer in a rather silly “white savior film” (starring Jim Belushi—back when Hollywood was invested in making him a lead) called The Principal about an inner city high school that Belushi’s character was given the dead-end job of cleaning up. 

Gossett could have been window dressing, but he brought a gravitas and a realism to a film that really didn’t deserve it. Strangely, there is a scene in the film where Gossett’s character faces a window and the sound mix is so poor that you can barely hear what he is saying, but Gossett makes you feel it, even if it sounds like a series of mumbles. He was present, even if the sound crew was not. 

It’s a remarkable moment in a decidedly unremarkable movie. I guess my point here is if Lou Gossett was in your movie, no matter how mediocre or bad (see the Top Gun knock off Iron Eagle, or don’t, but do see Diggstown), he always gave you a reason to watch. 

He was an actor who was often far above his station, but when the station met his gifts, he was positively extraordinary. 

Lou Gossett Jr. died on March 29. He was 87 years old.