Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr.is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman, and his Emmy Award-winning role as Fiddler in the 1977 ABC television miniseries Roots. Gossett has also starred in numerous film productions including A Raisin In The Sun, Skin Game, Travels with My Aunt, The Laughing Policeman, The Deep, Jaws 3-D, Wolfgang Petersen's Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth27 May 1936
CitySheepshead Bay, NY
CountryUnited States of America
If a role isn't different, it's not worth doing.
I was president of the schools in junior high and high school, got a scholarship to New York University, played a little basketball, and was a celebrity.
I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts.
I didn't know anything about acting, I didn't know anything about theater, but I was just an exceptional student at high school. I wanted to play ball; I'm going after a basketball scholarship and be a doctor. I got injured and my marks began to drop.
You have a bout with death, things that touch your mortality, when that happens, all that bling-bling gets thrown away because all you've got is you and God.
My father's best friend, Georgie Terra, was an Italian guy. The children and the cousins and nieces and nephews were children of the Mafia. Those were the children he grew up with. If you want to go to a safe neighborhood, go to where the Mafia is.
I think more important than law is the hearts of people.
I'm cancer-free. And I'm on antioxidants and acupuncture and a different diet. And I have a different outlook on life. I don't have resentment any more. It's wonderful.
My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household.
The Lord may not come when you want Him, but he's always going to be there on time.
I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered.
We need to do whatever it takes to get our children together and pay attention to them, because that's our future. What's in the hearts and minds of our children is what's in our future.
When I'm offered a role, I look at what I think I can do with it. I look to see if I can project myself into it.
I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp.