Andre Braugher

This one really hurts — one of the greatest actors of his generation has died suddenly:

Andre Braugher, who starred in the hit television series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” has died. He was 61.

Braugher’s publicist Jennifer Allen confirmed the news of his death to Variety.

Braugher was known for his role as Captain Ray Holt on the police procedural comedy series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” from 2013 until 2021.

Born in Chicago, Braugher graduated from Stanford University, then attended Juilliard School in the drama division.

His first screen role came as a Union solider in “Glory,” in which he played Thomas Searles, a free Black man who joins the first Black regiment. In the TV movie revival of “Kojak,” he played Kojak’s sidekick, then moved on to “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

It’s a crime that the vagaries of The Market mean that you cannot stream Homicide, although thanks to the fine people at Shout! Factory you can get it on physical media. Compromised by the network drama format and then by extensive meddling as it failed to generate high enough ratings for the NBC brass, it was not as good as The Wire, but it’s that kind of titanic standard to which is deserves comparison, and Braugher’s performances were consistently jaw-dropping. I’ve never seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine but by all accounts he was equally superb in a very different role. For some reason he never got the truly showcase, star-making movie role he deserved, but he was a brilliant actor. R.I.P.

…it’s on Wikipedia so it’s gotta be true:

Somebody needs to properly source this, so it can stay in Andre Braugher's Wikipedia bio pic.twitter.com/ETPLE3dM1c— Matt Zoller Seitz (@mattzollerseitz) December 13, 2023