The Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher passed away on Monday. He was famous for his roles as icy cops on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street.” The man was 61 years old. His longtime spokeswoman Jennifer Allen confirmed his death on Tuesday. The New Jersey resident, Mr. Braugher, had reportedly passed away following a short illness, according to her. She remained vague.
“Homicide,” a crime drama set in Baltimore in the 1990s that followed the troubles of police in a city plagued by killings, was Mr. Braugher’s breakout role. He played a tough cop on the show. For the last few years of his life, he was a serious police officer on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but he played the character for laughs because the show was a comedy. His portrayal of a gay police officer who refused to conform to stereotypes also garnered him praise.
He demonstrated his versatility by portraying characters as varied as Henry V from Shakespeare, an automobile salesperson called Owen Thoreau Jr., and a New York Times executive editor dealing with the investigative research that would begin the #MeToo movement.
In a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, David Simon—a former Baltimore Sun writer and author of the book “Homicide”—referenced his work with many great performers. Simon went on to develop the groundbreaking crime drama “The Wire” in the years before to this. “An improved collaborator will never be found.”
Andre Braugher. God.
I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better.
Stunned and thinking of Ami and his sons and so many memories of this good man that are now a blessing. But too damn soon.
— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 13, 2023
The West Side of Chicago was Andre Keith Braugher’s childhood home; he was born on July 1, 1962. The US Postal Service was his mother, Sally Braugher. Floyd Braugher was an Illinois state employee who operated heavy machinery. “We lived in a ghetto,” he told The New York Times in 2014.
“I could have pretended I was hard or tough and not a square. I wound up not getting in trouble. I don’t consider myself to be especially wise, but I will say that it’s pretty clear that some people want to get out and some people don’t. I wanted out.” After graduating from the exclusive Chicago Jesuit Catholic high school St. Ignatius College Prep, Mr. Braugher was awarded a full academic scholarship to attend Stanford University.
When his kid decided he wanted to be an actor instead of an engineer, his father was understandably upset. “Show me Black actors who are earning a living,” his father told him at the time. “What the hell are you going to do, juggle and travel the country?” Mr. Braugher attended Stanford University and graduated with a degree in mathematics; he then went on to get an MFA from the Juilliard School.
“Glory,” an Academy Award–winning film from 1989 about African-American soldiers serving in the Union army during the American Civil War, was one of his earliest professional acting appearances. Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman were among its star-studded cast members.
“I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of,” Mr. Braugher told The Times that year. “I can tell you now that my mother will be proud of me when she sees me in this role.” Mr. Braugher, who adamantly preferred to reside in New Jersey despite frequently working in California, would thereafter appear in a plethora of more films.
“Get on the Bus” (1996) followed a group of Black men as they made their way to Washington, DC, for the Million Man March. “City of Angels” (1998) followed the romantic journey of an angel (Nicolas Cage) who develops feelings for a doctor (Meg Ryan). The thriller “She Said” (2022), which Mr. Braugher worked on recently, follows the lives of New York Times journalists as they attempt to expose Harvey Weinstein’s s*xual abuse.
The executive editor of the newspaper at the time, Mr. Baquet, was portrayed by Mr. Braugher. He has also been seen performing Shakespearean roles at several places, including the New York Shakespeare Festival. “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” was a play he had planned to write for a later date, as he revealed to The Times in 2014.
“I’ve never read it because I’d like to see one Shakespeare play that I don’t know what happens,” he said. According to Ms. Allen, Mr. Braugher’s mother, brother Charles Jennings, wife Ami Brabson, and kids Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley are among those who will carry on his legacy.
After being shuttered due to the Writers Guild of America strike, his most recent project, “The Residence,” a miniseries about a murder in the White House, was supposed to resume production in January, according to the entertainment portal Deadline. His fate—if recast or written off—remained uncertain.
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