Louis Gossett, Jr., The First Black Man to Win a Supporting Actor Oscar, Dies at 87

He also won an Emmy for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots.”

The actor died Thursday night in Santa Monica, California, The Associated Press reported.

Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him at an early age and propelling him forward toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

He earned his first acting credit in his Brooklyn High School production of “You Can’t Take It With You” while he was sidelined from the basketball team with an injury.

“I was hooked — and so was my audience,” he wrote in his 2010 memoir “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

His English teacher urged him to go to Manhattan to try out for “Take a Giant Step.” He got the part and made his Broadway debut in 1953 at the age of 16.

“I knew too little to be nervous,” Gossett wrote. “In retrospect, I should have been scared to death as I walked onto that stage, but I wasn’t.”