Andre Braugher, who played Captain Raymond Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, died at the age of 61.
In the hit US sitcom, the two-time Emmy winner starred opposite Andy Samberg and Terry Crews as New York police officers in Brooklyn’s fictional 99th Precinct.
He was also noted for playing this character in Homicide: Life in The Street.
According to his spokeswoman Jennifer Allen, Braugher died on Monday after a brief illness.
During his long career, Braugher received 11 Emmy nominations, four of them were for his performance in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which premiered in 2013 and finished after eight seasons in 2021.
Following his work as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life On The Street, which aired from 1993 to 1999, he won an Emmy in 1998 for best lead actor in a drama series.
Braugher received the award again in 2006 for outstanding performance by a main actor in a mini-series for his portrayal as professional thief Nick Atwater in Thief.
Terry Crews and Joe Lo Truglio of Brooklyn Nine-Nine were among many who remembered him for his ‘irreplaceable skill’ as they lamented his untimely demise.
Crews, who played Lieutenant Terry Jeffords in the comedy, paid tribute to US star Braugher who was ‘gone so soon’, ending the caption with #ninenine in reference to a fan-favourite saying on the show.
‘I’m honoured to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared eight glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent,’ Crews said on Instagram.
‘This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much. I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you. Thank you for your wisdom, your advice, your kindness and your friendship.
‘…You showed me what a life well lived looks like.’
Lo Truglio, who played Charles Boyle on the hit comedy, recalled Braugher travelling home every weekend from filming to be with his wife Ami Brabson, whom he met on Homicide: Life On The Street, and their three children.
‘We all know how amazing an actor he was, but even more, Andre understood exactly what his most essential part was and was extremely proud of it,’ he said on Instagram.
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‘He spoke often about his sons, and knew how lucky he was to have Ami. I’m grateful to them for allowing us to share eight years with him.
‘He was committed and passionate about the things he loved. And that voice. It laid anchor to the roughest of dialogue.’
Lo Truglio said it a pleasure to ‘work with a man who knew what it was all about,’ signing off as Porkchop, a nod to what Braugher once dubbed his character on-screen.
Meanwhile, Marc Evan Jackson, who played Braugher’s on-screen spouse in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, released a photo of the couple cuddling on set while wearing their wedding rings.
O Captain. My Captain. pic.twitter.com/ekGFz3EUTG
— Marc Evan Jackson (@MarcEvanJackson) December 13, 2023
He captioned the post on X, formerly Twitter: ‘O Captain. My Captain.’
Chelsea Peretti, who portrayed Braugher’s on-screen administrator Gina Linetti on the programme, said she will miss his ‘dulcet tones’.
On Instagram she said: ‘Forever lucky to have gone on such a journey with you. Ringside seat. You were so funny to me and the epitome of still waters run deep.
‘I will always cherish our conversations, often with me hanging in your doorway barring your exit, and the insane opportunity to be your sidekick.’
David Simon, who wrote Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets which inspired the TV series, said Braugher’s death was ‘too damn soon’.
‘I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors. I’ll never work with one better,’ he said on X.
‘Stunned and thinking of Ami and his sons and so many memories of this good man that are now a blessing.’
Braugher’s breakthrough performance came in the 1990 picture Glory, directed by Ed Zwick, with Hollywood luminaries Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington, for which he received his first Academy Award.
Other significant parts include Benjamin O Davis in Tuskegee Airmen, Dr Ben Gideon in Gideon’s Crossing (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination), and Owen in Men Of A Certain Age, both of which earned him Emmy nods.
Mike Royce, who co-created Men Of A Certain Age, said on X: ‘This is impossible for me to process. He was best actor in the world. An incredible human being. An incomprehensible loss.’
Braugher was most recently seen in the biographical film She Said, in which Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the investigative journalists who broke the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
He portrayed Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times who oversaw the two reporters.
Other credits include Salt, a 2010 film opposite Angelina Jolie, Passengers, a 2008 film alongside Anne Hathaway, Duets, a 2000 film with Gwyneth Paltrow, City Of Angels, a 1998 film with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, and Primal Fear, a 1996 film with Richard Gere.
He also appeared in the 2006 action flick Poseidon, co-starring with Josh Lucas from Sweet Home Alabama.
Posting a picture of the pair on Instagram, Lucas wrote: ‘The great Andre Braugher passed away today. He was one of the first actors I ever worked with. And years later we did Poseidon together.
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‘I saw him perform Shakespeare in the Park and it was beyond memorable. It was an early preview and towards the end during his monologue as Henry V he just stopped. Dead stop. Silence.
‘He put his head down and clearly we all realise he had forgotten his lines. The pause lasted what seemed an eternity and then like lightning he whipped his head up and exploded with greatness, word perfect.
‘It was a performance I will always remember. He was an actor and man I always deeply respect.’
Braugher is survived by wife Ami Brabson and their three sons.
Source My Celebrity Life.