Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning actor best known for his roles on the series “Homicide: Life on The Street” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” died on Monday at the age of 61.
Braugher’s publicist Jennifer Allen told The Associated Press the actor died after a short illness.
The Chicago-born actor had his breakthrough role in 1989’s “Glory,” starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for the film about an all-Black army regiment during the Civil War.
Despite the part, he told The Associated Press in 2019 that he struggled to find work in a Hollywood where roles for African American actors were “few and far between. Period.”
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But he established himself with the role of Det. Frank Pembleton, which he played for seven seasons in “Homicide: Life on the Street,” a gritty police drama on NBC based on a book by David Simon, who went on to create “The Wire.”
He won his first career Emmy for the role, taking the trophy for lead actor in a drama series in 1998.
Braugher won his second for lead actor for the 2006 limited series “Thief” on FX. He was nominated for 11 Emmys overall.
Years later, he played a very different kind of cop on a very different kind of show, shifting to comedy as Capt. Ray Holt on the Andy Samberg-starring “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” The show ran for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021 on Fox and NBC.
Though he dipped his toe into comedy in the TNT dramedy “Men of a Certain Age,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” still represented a major shift for Braugher, who was known for acting in dark and heavy dramas.
