Actor Andre Braugher from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide,” passes away at 61

His most well-known roles were as stern police officers in two critically acclaimed but very different television shows (one a comedy, the other a deep drama).

The Emmy Award-winning actor Andre Braugher passed away on Monday. He was most known for portraying stoic police detectives in the TV series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street.” He was sixty-one.

Jennifer Allen, his longtime publicist, confirmed his death on Tuesday. She claimed that following a brief illness, Mr. Braugher, a resident of New Jersey, had passed away. She didn’t go into detail.

Mr. Braugher gained notoriety for his portrayal of a tough police officer in the 1990s Baltimore crime series “Homicide,” which showed the difficulties of enforcing the law in a city plagued by killings. In “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” a sitcom, he played a police commander for laughs during the final years of his life, albeit in a completely different tone than that of a serious police officer. He was praised for portraying an openly homosexual police officer who defied preconceptions.

In between, he demonstrated his versatility by taking on roles as varied as that of Henry V from Shakespeare, Owen Thoreau Jr., an automobile salesman, and an executive editor of The New York Times who was tasked with handling the investigative reporting that would usher in the #MeToo era.

David Simon, a former journalist for the Baltimore Sun who penned the book on which “Homicide” was based years before he developed the iconic crime drama “The Wire,” stated on social media, “I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors.” “I have never worked with a better one.”

On July 1, 1962, Andre Keith Braugher was born in Chicago, where he was raised on the West Side. Sally Braugher, his mother, was employed by the US Postal Service. Floyd Braugher, his father, worked for the state of Illinois as a heavy equipment operator.

In 2014, he said to The New York Times, “We lived in a ghetto.” “I might have acted like I wasn’t a square and was rough or tough. In the end, I avoided danger. Although I don’t think of myself as particularly wise, I will admit that it’s evident that not everyone wants to leave. I desired to be done with it.

After attending the esteemed Jesuit Catholic high school St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, Mr. Braugher was awarded a scholarship to Stanford University. His father was enraged when his son chose acting over engineering since he intended him to become an engineer.

At the time, his father said to him, “Show me Black actors who are making a living.” “How in the hell are you going to balance travelling the nation?”

Despite frequently working in California, Mr. Braugher persisted on residing in New Jersey and went on to act in numerous other movies. Highlights were the 1996 film “Get on the Bus,” which followed a group of Black men as they travelled to Washington for the Million Man March, and the 1998 film “City of Angels,” which told the story of an angel (Nicolas Cage) who falls in love with a physician (Meg Ryan).

Mr. Braugher graduated with a master’s degree in fine arts from the Juilliard School, having majored in math at Stanford University.

“Glory,” an Oscar-winning 1989 film about Black soldiers fighting for the Union during the American Civil War, was one of his first professional acting roles. Starring in the cast were Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick.

In that year, Mr. Braugher told The Times, “I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of.” “I can already tell that when my mother sees me in this role, she will be proud of me.”

Despite frequently working in California, Mr. Braugher persisted on residing in New Jersey and went on to act in numerous other movies. Highlights were the 1996 film “Get on the Bus,” which followed a group of Black men as they travelled to Washington for the Million Man March, and the 1998 film “City of Angels,” which told the story of an angel (Nicolas Cage) who falls in love with a physician (Meg Ryan).

“She Said” (2022), a drama about New York Times reporters’ attempts to record sexual harassment by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, was one of Mr. Braugher’s final motion picture endeavours. The executive editor of the newspaper at the time, Dean Baquet, was portrayed by Mr. Braugher.

In addition, he played Shakespearean parts at other events like the New York Shakespeare Festival. He revealed to The Times in 2014 that he intended to save the play “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” for a later time in his life.

“I haven’t read it because I want to see a Shakespeare play whose plot I’m not familiar with,” he remarked.

According to Ms. Allen, Mr. Braugher is survived by his mother, brother Charles Jennings, kids Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley, and wife, actress Ami Brabson. 2011 saw the passing of his father.

According to the entertainment website Deadline, he was set to start filming his most recent project, a miniseries called “The Residence,” which is about a murder in the White House, in January after it was put on hold due to the Writers Guild of America strike.

The most well-known roles that Mr. Braugher played were on critically praised television shows. These included the title character of an unconventional doctor on the ABC drama “Gideon’s Crossing” (2000–2001) and Owen Thoreau Jr., a car salesman on the TNT series “Men of a Certain Age” (2009–2011). Additionally, from 2017 until 2022, he starred in the sixth and last season of the legal drama “The Good Fight” onParamount+.

In the police procedural “Homicide,” which aired from 1993 to 1998, Mr. Braugher portrayed Baltimore homicide detective Frank Pembleton. He won two Television Critics Association Awards for best actor in a drama series in 1997 and 1998, as well as an Emmy Award in 1998 for his breakthrough performance.

For his major part as a gang boss in the FX miniseries “Thief,” which was about crime in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, he was awarded an Emmy in 2006 for outstanding performance by a lead actor in a miniseries.

Additionally, Mr. Braugher portrayed the humorously strict precinct commander Capt. Raymond Holt on the comedy series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which ran from 2013 to 2021. In addition to winning two Critics Choice Awards for best supporting actor in a comedy series, he was nominated for four Emmys.

He told The New York Times that he thought “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide” were similar after the first few episodes of the former show aired.

He remarked, “You know what I’m saying—I don’t want to go way out on a limb about this and be challenged about it.” However, I believe they’re both comedy set in offices. Though it has taken 20 years for them to fully circle, I believe they are now in the same position.