MOVIE NEWS – Louis Gossett Jr. was the voice of the friendly aliens in Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 who were oppressed by the franchise’s inter-dimensional villains, the Combine.
Louis Gossett Jr. has appeared in dozens of films, TV shows and plays, but according to AP News, the Oscar-winning actor, who won an Academy Award for his performance in 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, is no longer with us. He began his acting career as a teenager in New York and went on to star in several Broadway plays, including 1959’s A Raisin in the Sun. In 1977, he won an Emmy Award for his performance in the miniseries Roots, and in 1983, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first black actor to win the award.
And in the gaming industry, Gossett was known for Half-Life 2, although he did not play the lead role, he voiced the Vortigaunt aliens. In Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, the voice actor was someone else (Tony Todd). Interestingly, this was not the first time Gossett Jr. played an alien, as he appeared in the 1985 film Enemy Mine.
The AP obituary mentioned Gossett’s other work, including his memoir of what it was like to experience racism as a black actor in Hollywood. In 2006, he founded the Eracism Foundation, whose mission is to help create a society free of racism. Gossett’s final role was Mister Johnson in last year’s musical adaptation of The Color Purple.
Gossett was remembered by some of his colleagues, including The Color Purple’s star Fantasia Barrino-Taylor, who wrote that Gossett was a pioneer for black actors and actresses, and Colman Domingo, who played Albert Johnson in The Color Purple, wrote that they had lost a true legend and would be forever indebted to Gossett for what he accomplished in his career.
Gossett died at the age of 87. May he rest in peace.
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