Louis Gossett

Starred in Tyler Perry s Daddy s Little Girls

Cast in the HBO original movie Lackawanna Blues based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson autobiographical one man show

Had a recurring role in Stargate SG-1

Returned to Broadway playing Billy Flynn in the long-running revival of Chicago ; left production after about a week reportedly due to ill health

Starred in and was executive producer of the sequel For Love of Olivia

Executive produced and starred in the CBS TV-movie The Color of Love: Jacey s Story

Played the tough owner of a telemarketing firm with a cameo in the Canadian independent thriller The Highwayman

Contributed to the Showtime anthology drama Love Songs , directing the A Love Song For Champ segment and acting in the other two segments of the dramatic trilogy

Played Vernon Jordan in the Showtime original film Strange Justice

Featured in Bram Stoker s Legend of the Mummy , aired on HBO

Narrated the AMC special Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood

Was executive producer and star of the Showtime original thriller The Inspectors ; reprised role and producer duties in the 2000 sequel The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence

Co-produced and starred in feature film Managua

Executive produced and starred in the TV-movies To Dance With Olivia (CBS) and In His Father s Shoes (Showtime); latter won a Daytime Emmy as Outstanding Children s Special

Executive produced and starred in two Showtime movies, Inside , directed by Arthur Penn, and Run For the Dream: The Gail Devers Story , in which he played track coach Bob Kersee

First producing credit (as co-executive producer), the NBC movie Ray Alexander: A Taste for Justice ; also starred

Played Honey Roy Palmer in Diggstown , with Bruce Dern and James Woods; then-wife Cyndi played on-screen wife

Starred as an anthropologist in the rotating ABC adventure series Gideon Oliver

Reprised his Emmy-winning role as Fiddler in the ABC holiday TV-movie, Roots: The Gift

Picked up another Emmy nomination for his performance in A Gathering of Old Men (CBS)

Created the role of Charles Chappy Sinclair in Iron Eagle ; reprised role in two feature sequels and one TV-movie

Offered a feature sci-fi turn as the lizard-like Jeriba Shiban in Enemy Mine

Earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Anwar Sadat in the synicated miniseries Sadat

Won Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the tough drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman

Portrayed legendary baseball pitcher Satchel Paige in ABC movie Don t Look Back

Played Fiddler on the landmark ABC miniseries Roots ; garnered Emmy Award

Acted alongside James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson in The River Niger , a feature film based on the 1972 Tony-winning play

Provided comic relief in George Cukor s Travels With My Aunt , playing Maggie Smith s fortune-telling companion

TV series regular on The Young Rebels (ABC), set during the American Revolutionary War era; played blacksmith Isak Poole

Wrote protest song, Handsome Johnny , performed by Richie Havens at Woodstock music festival

Played Willie Nurse on Broadway in Sidney Poitier s directorial debut, Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights

Acted on Broadway in musical version of Golden Boy , starring Sammy Davis Jr

Film debut, A Raisin in the Sun

Received an offer to play for the New York Knicks but turned it down to take a stage role in A Raisin in the Sun

Returned to Broadway supporting Shirley Booth in The Desk Set

TV debut on Philco Television Playhouse

Broadway debut, Take a Giant Step

Co-starred as the alien Dehay (alias Walt Shepherd) on NBC sci-fi series, The Powers of Matthew Star

Raised in Brooklyn, New York

Starred as Dr MacArthur St Clair on the short-lived ABC medical series The Lazarus Syndrome

Was a nightclub singer at the Bitter End, Folk City, Gaslight Club, Black Pussy Cat and Cafe Id in New York during the 1960s