American actor André Braugher—who was best known for playing police officers in ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’, ‘Men of a Certain Age’ and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’—passed away on Monday at the age of 61.
Braugher died after brief illness, confirmed by Jennifer Allen, his longtime publicist.
The two-time Emmy-winning actor started his career with Ed Zwick’s ‘Glory’ alongside Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington.
While Braugher was doing great performances with comedic roles, his greatest breakthrough came from the character of Detective Frank Pembleton in the NBC drama ‘Homicide: Life on the Street stands out’.
His compelling performance as the detective earned him an Emmy which he headlined from 1992 to 1998. Adding to that, his wife, Ami Brabson, made recurring appearances as Pembleton’s wife on Homicide.
Towards the last years of his life he entertained audiences by playing another serious police officer in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but in a very different manner as made his audience laugh. He was also praised for portraying an openly gay cop character without thinking about stereotypes.
Born in Chicago in 1962, Braugher finished his schooling form St. Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit Catholic high school in Chicago, and later did his graduation in Math on a scholarship from Stanford University.
Though, his father wished him to become an engineer, Braugher went for Masters of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School.
Going against the wishes of family was not that easy for Braugher. During one of his interviews with The New York Times in 2014, he said, “We lived in a ghetto. 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.”
He further shared his father’s words, recalled, “Show me Black actors who are earning a living. What the hell are you going to do, juggle and travel the country?,” said Braugher’s father at the time.
After doing his first film ‘Glory’, which got an Oscar in 1989, the actor said “I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of. I can tell you now that my mother will be proud of me when she sees me in this role,” during one of his interviews with The Times that year.
‘Glory’ was a story of black soldiers fighting for the Union during the American Civil War.
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