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Andre Braugher, an Emmy-winning actor who, for over 30 years, adapted his no-nonsense, unflappable persona to great success across genres on television, in film and onstage, <\/em>died at 61 years old<\/em><\/a> on Monday night after a brief illness. Most famous for his roles as police officers \u2014 early in his career in the procedural \u201cHomicide: Life on the Street\u201d and later in the sitcom \u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d \u2014 Braugher fell in love with acting while attending Stanford University, where he first performed in a student production of \u201cHamlet.\u201d He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts from Juilliard School. \u201cWhen I graduated from school, I felt like I had the tiger by the tail; I could do almost anything,\u201d <\/em>Braugher told Variety<\/em><\/a> in 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look back at some of the moments that would go on to define Braugher\u2019s career.<\/em><\/p>\n 1988<\/p>\n Braugher\u2019s father was reluctant to support his acting career \u2014 Braugher remembered<\/a> him saying, \u201cShow me Black actors who are earning a living. What the hell are you going to do, juggle and travel the country?\u201d \u2014 but landing a supporting role in \u201cGlory\u201d was a crucial early breakthrough. He played the studious, timid union Corporal Thomas Searles in the Civil War drama alongside Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Despite positive reviews for his first film performance, Braugher found little immediate opportunity in movies. He became a mainstay of the theater scenes in New York and New Jersey, where he relocated with his family in the 1990s. For his turn as Iago, in a 1990 production of \u201cOthello\u201d at the Rutgers Arts Center, Alvin Klein wrote<\/a> in a review for The New York Times that Braugher \u201cplays the smooth operator, who knows the power of his devilish smile, sinuous grace and considerable charm.\u201d<\/p>\n Braugher won an Obie Award in 1996 for his portrayal of Henry V<\/a> at Shakespeare in the Park, where the actor also performed in productions over two decades including \u201cMeasure for Measure,\u201d \u201cTwelfth Night\u201d and \u201cHamlet.\u201d He won a second Obie for his role in the 2011 Manhattan Theater Club production of \u201cThe Whipping Man.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In one of his last stage roles, in \u201cA Human Being, of a Sort\u201d at Williamstown in 2019, Braugher delivered a formidable performance. The Times theater critic Jesse Green wrote<\/a>: \u201cMr. Braugher is instantly convincing as a man whose apparently easygoing nature is at least partly a front for anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As the Baltimore homicide detective Frank Pembleton in this lauded NBC police procedural, Braugher would in large part define what it looked like to be cop on a television drama in the modern era \u2014 particularly in interrogation scenes.<\/p>\n The show was based on the book \u201cHomicide\u201d by David Simon, who would go on to create the Baltimore HBO crime drama \u201cThe Wire.\u201d On Tuesday, Simon posted<\/a> on social media that Braugher\u2019s death was \u201ctoo damn soon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors,\u201d Simon wrote. \u201cI\u2019ll never work with one better.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, in an interview with The Times<\/a>, Braugher, reflecting on the show, thought back fondly to its early days: \u201cWhen I think back to that initial group, that first- and second-year group, it was a wonderful cast and boy, were we quirky. Boy, were we misfits, and I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI looked with amusement at \u2018NYPD Blue\u2019 and all those other shows that began to incorporate all the techniques that we had, dare I say, pioneered for television,\u201d he went on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The role of Pembleton won Braugher an Emmy in 1998 for best lead actor in a drama. \u201cThis is for all the people in Baltimore,\u201d he said<\/a> in his acceptance speech. \u201cThis is a town that I love, we have finally made it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Braugher took home his second Emmy, for best lead actor in a miniseries, for his role as the coolheaded Nick Atwater, who leads a gang of criminals and ex-cons, in the six-part FX crime thriller \u201cThief.\u201d<\/p>\n This moody show, about professional crooks and a heist gone sideways, set in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, \u201creaches for the brutality and emotional complexity of \u2018Oz\u2019 and \u2018The Sopranos,\u2019\u201d a Times critic wrote at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It was Braugher, the critic wrote, who turned \u201cThief\u201d into more than just a well-made crime drama. \u201cNick is scary, until he isn\u2019t,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHe is likable, until he is just the opposite. The character is hard to pin down but impossible to resist.\u201d<\/p>\n 2013-2021<\/p>\n Braugher earned four Emmy nominations, for best supporting actor in a comedy, for his role as Capt. Raymond Holt, the N.Y.P.D.\u2019s first Black gay captain, a role that has been celebrated<\/a> for shedding stereotypes. He played opposite Andy Samberg\u2019s arrogant, sophomoric Detective Jake Peralta \u2014 imbuing the role of Holt with deadpan perfection.<\/p>\n In 2020, Samberg<\/a> told Variety that Braugher \u201cadds so much and takes so little \u2014 it\u2019s really inspiring.\u201d Referring to Holt\u2019s traits of morality, earnestness, perfectionism, Samberg said of Braugher: \u201cI think his approach and who he is as a person in real life is what makes him the perfect person to play Holt.\u201d<\/p>\n Pivoting to comedy was akin to \u201ca second act,\u201d Braugher said. \u201cI feel as though new life has been breathed into my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After the first few episodes of \u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d aired on Fox (the show would later move to NBC), he told The Times<\/a> that the comedy and \u201cHomicide\u201d weren\u2019t as different as they might seem: \u201cI think they\u2019re both workplace comedies. In essence it\u2019s taken 20 years to come full circle, but I think they\u2019re in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On Tuesday, Terry Crews, who starred on \u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d for its entire run, thanked Braugher for his wisdom, advice, kindness and friendship. \u201cI\u2019m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent,\u201d Crews wrote on social media<\/a>. \u201cThis hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cGlory\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cBrooklyn Nine-Nine\u201d<\/h2>\n
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