Louis Gossett, Jr.

In his two-hour interview, Louis Gossett, Jr. (1936-2024) talks about his early life, and his early interest in sports and performing. He recalls taking classes at the Actors Studio, and early television roles on The Nurses and East Side/West Side. He recalls appearing both on stage and in the feature film version of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and alongside James Garner in Skin Game. He details playing the role of “Fiddler” in the groundbreaking miniseries Roots, and speaks of finding the character, and improvising a line in a key scene, which was kept in with the permission of Alex Haley. Gossett discusses the impact of Roots, and what it was like to win the Emmy Award for his work on the series. He chronicles his Oscar-winning role in An Officer and a Gentleman, and other roles in features like The Cuban and Enemy Mine. He recalls playing “Anwar al-Sadat” in the critically acclaimed Sadat, and opines about race relations in America. Jenni Matz conducted the interview in a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on July 9, 2018 in Malibu, CA.