Oscar-winning star of ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ dead at 87

Despite these hardships, Gossett carved out an illustrious career, though he believed it could have been even more remarkable if he had been a white actor. Reflecting on this, he remarked, “You look at my track record over a 55-year period of all the awards. Maybe I should be kind of closer to Clint Eastwood, don’t you think? If you think about the drugs and alcohol, then maybe I should be more like Robert Downey Jr.”

Gossett openly discussed his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, which led him to enter rehab 20 years ago. He completed a 12-step program, which involved confronting and eliminating what he termed the “killer” for anyone: resentment. “For me, that killer was resentment,” he explained.