Louis Gossett Jr ‘paved way for black actors’, say Color Purple cast in tribute

The American actor’s last role was in the 2023 remake of the film (Richard Shotwell/AP)

American actor Louis Gossett Jr has been hailed as a “true legend and great” and for “paving the way for black actors” by the cast of The Color Purple following his death at the age of 87.

He won the supporting actor Academy Award for An Officer And A Gentleman, the first black man to take home the gong, when he starred opposite Richard Gere and Debra Winger in the 1982 romance drama.