The Academy Award-winning actor passed away

The reason Louis Gossett Jr. died has been found.

According to Gossett’s death certificate, the 87-year-old “An Officer and a Gentleman” actor passed away in March from COPD.

The certificate, which was released by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health in April and obtained by USA TODAY on Wednesday, also shows that heart failure and atrial fibrillation, along with his years-long battle with the disease, played a part in his death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COPD is a group of diseases that make it hard to breathe and block airflow. The CDC says that atrial fibrillation is the most common type of heart arrhythmia, which is when the heart beats in a strange way.

In March, Gossett’s nephew told The Associated Press that the actor who won an Emmy had died in Santa Monica, California, on March 29.

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Oscar for his role in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” has died at the age of 87.

One of Gossett’s most famous roles was as Marine Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in “An Officer and a Gentleman,” which won him an Academy Award for best supporting actor. He was the first Black man to win in that category. Three Golden Globes were given to Gossett, and he won two for “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “The Josephine Baker Story.”

The actor, who was born in Brooklyn and went to New York University, became one of the most famous Black actors of his time and received praise from both audiences and critics. The groundbreaking actor won both an Oscar and an Emmy for his part in the TV miniseries “Roots,” which was based on Alex Haley’s book of the same name.

Gossett became a legendary actor and singer over the years. During his career, he was nominated for eight Emmys for his roles in “Roots,” “Backstairs at the White House,” “Palmerstown, U.S.A.,” “Sadat,” “A Gathering of Old Men,” “Touched by an Angel,” and most recently, “Watchmen” on HBO in 2020.

He was in both the stage and movie versions of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which helped him become a Hollywood star. In the past few years, he has guest-starred or been in a number of TV shows, such as “Madam Secretary,” “The Book of Negroes,” “The Spoils Before Dying,” and “The Good Fight,” a spinoff of “The Good Wife.”

He also played Ol’ Mister in the remake of “The Color Purple” that Oprah Winfrey put together last year, which also starred Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, and Colman Domingo.

His Eracism Foundation was set up off-screen to help end racism all over the world.