Who is Louis Gossett Jr.’s actor cousin, Robert Gossett?
ROBERT Gossett followed in his first cousin's footsteps to Hollywood, leading to a decades-long career on both the big and silver screens.
As tributes poured in following Louis Gossett Jr.'s death on Friday, March 29, 2024, fans were curious to learn more about his younger cousin's acting career and personal life.
Who is Louis Gossett Jr.'s actor cousin, Robert Gossett?
Robert Gossett is an American actor most famous for his television roles.
He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Russell Taylor in TNT's police procedural series The Closer.
Robert also reprised his role in The Closer's spin-off, Major Crimes, in 2012.
Robert was born on March 3, 1954, in New York City.
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He grew up in The Bronx and was originally a music major at the High School of Performing Arts.
After graduation, he scored his first acting job, an off-Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Robert continued to find success in the theater industry, appearing in several Broadway productions, including:
- August Wilson's Fences
- Hal Scott's A Raisin in the Sun
- Donald McKayle's The Last Minstrel Show
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In 1984, he secured his first Hollywood movie role, playing Eddie in the romantic comedy Over the Brooklyn Bridge.
He also appeared as a TV Anchorman in Tim Burton's 1992 superhero film Batman Returns and acted alongside John Travolta and Harry Belafonte in the 1995 drama White Man's Burden.
While Robert found some success in the movie industry, his career flourished on the silver screen.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Robert appeared in episodes of:
- The Cosby Show
- Heartbeat
- Quantum Leap
- Cheers
- NYPD Blue
- Melrose Place
- Diagnosis Murder
- Pacific Palisades
- Beverly Hills, 90210
- 7th Heaven
- Sister, Sister
- Charmed
In 1992, Robert had a main role in the crime series Silk Stalkings, playing Lieutenant Hudson.
In the 2000s, he appeared in The Young and the Restless, ER, The Sarah Silverman Program, Chicago Med, Greenleaf, and The Enemy Within.
He also had a recurring role in the 2018 series The Oath.
Since 2021, Robert portrayed Marshall Ashford on the daytime television soap opera General Hospital.
In 2022, he received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Performance in a Drama Series for his work on General Hospital.
The following year, Robert won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Marshall.
Who was Louis Gossett Jr.?
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. was an American actor.
He was born in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, on May 27, 1936.
Like his younger cousin, Robert, Louis made his acting debut as a teenager, appearing in a school production of You Can't Take it With You.
He made his first Broadway appearance in the play, Take a Giant Step, and continued acting in plays, including A Raisin in the Sun in 1959, The Blacks in 1961, Tambourines to Glory in 1963, and The Zulu and the Zayda in 1965.
He is also known for his role as Fiddler in the 1977 miniseries Roots, for which he won an Emmy Award.
Louis' other notable film roles include 1984's Finders Keepers, 1989's The Punisher, and 2010's Why Did I Get Married Too?
He also appeared on the silver screen in films such as The Young Rebels, Return to Lonesome Drive, Boardwalk Empire, Hap and Leonard, Hawaii Five-0, and Watchmen.
He will next appear posthumously in the 2024 live-action animated comedy IF.
Louis received dozens of awards and accolades over his decades-long acting career.
He was the first Black man to win Best Supporting Actor at the 1983 Academy Awards for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman.
He was most recently nominated for a 2023 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for his work on the acclaimed film The Color Purple.
Louis was married three times in his life.
His first marriage to Hattie Glascoe in 1967 was annulled less than a year later in 1968.
He then married Christina Mangosing in 1973.
The couple welcomed one child together, a son, Satie, born in 1974, but decided to end their marriage in 1975.
In 1987, he married Cyndi James-Reese, and the duo adopted a son together, Sharron, born in 1977.
The marriage ended in divorce five years later, in 1992.
On Friday, March 29, 2024, Louis passed away in Santa Monica, California.
He was 87 years old.
While a cause of death has not immediately been released, Louis was previously diagnosed with prostate cancer in February 2010 and hospitalized with Covid-19 in December 2020.
Is Robert Gossett married?
Robert Gossett doesn't just have a famous cousin in the entertainment industry.
His wife, Michele, also works in Hollywood.
While it's unclear when exactly the two married, they've known each other since the late 1980s.
Michele often posts snaps of her husband and their family on her social media accounts, including her Instagram.
According to her LinkedIn, Michele has been a Directing and Acting Teacher at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts since 1994.
She's also served as an Acting Teacher and Audition Coach at the Gossett Acting Workshop since September 2010.
From 1989 until 1996, Michele ran the multicultural theater company, Mojo Ensemble Theatre, serving as its Artistic Director.
While it's been a while since the duo worked together, in 1993, Robert starred in a play Michele wrote titled Indigo Blues.
For his role, he won an NAACP Theater Award for Best Performance by a Male and a Dramalogue Best Actor Award.
Michele and Robert are the parents of two boys, Caleb and Luke.
On March 18, 2024, Robert opened up to his General Hospital co-star, Maurice Benard, about his son Luke's tragic death.
Luke took his life in November 2022.
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"Mental illness and help, therapy, was never part of my...but this was...it was so traumatic, and I was so lost...I have now engaged," Gossett admitted, as reported by Soap Central.
"Grief and trauma and a loss has an effect on us, and that has sort of introduced me to therapy and therapists, so now I have so much more appreciation."