Refresh for latest… André Braugher was an actor’s actor — one who absorbed a character and, like a superstar athlete, made the cast around him better.
As the showbiz community digests the terrible news of his death today at 61, reactions from friends, former castmates and others are hitting social media. Read a sampling of them below.
The versatile Braugher was a two-time Emmy winner and 11-time nominee who amassed more than 100 TV and film credits over a 35-year screen career. He started out playing a detective opposite Telly Savalas in a string of Kojak telefilms, and during that era Braugher hit the big screen with a key role in Glory, Edward Zwick’s 1989 Civil War-set film starring Matthew Broderick that would land Denzel Washington his first Oscar.
That would lead to his signature role in the criminally underwatched 1990s NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street. His Detective Frank Pembleton was a no-nonsense — well, maybe a little nonsense — member of the Baltimore “murder police” with a knack for crime-solving and an intolerance for fools.
The character suffered an onscreen stroke while interrogating a murder suspect, and Braugher’s riveting performance in those few minutes — and the rest of his brilliant performance in that fourth season — would lead to the actor’s first Emmy nom for the role, in 1996.
Braugher continued to land roles — and awards — for the rest of his career in TV, movies and animation. He appeared on the big screen is films including The Tuskegee Airmen and Spike Lee’s Get on the Bus. Braugher toplined the early-2000s ABC drama Gideon’s Crossing, starred in CBS crime drama Hack and would claim a second Emmy for his lead role in the 2006 FX miniseries Thief. He also starred with Ray Romano and Scott Bakula in the 2009-11 TNT dramedy Men of a Certain Age, racking up Emmy noms for both its seasons.
Most recently he co-starred opposite Andy Samberg in the long-running ABC/NBC cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and in CBS All Access/Paramount+ drama The Good Fight, scoring Emmy noms for both.
Here is what people are saying about the late actor:
