André Braugher, the dynamic actor known for his standout work in series such as Homicide: Life on the Street and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, has died. He was 61.
Braugher died Monday after a brief illness, his longtime rep Jennifer Allen told .
Braugher starred as lead interrogator Det. Frank Pembleton in all seven seasons of NBC's acclaimed series “Homicide: Life on the Street” from 1993 to 1998, then played another cop on the Fox-NBC sitcom from 2013-21 , Captain Raymond Holt – this time against type and for laughs, Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
He won his first Emmy in 1998 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for “Homicide,” following one of the season's most memorable episodes, “Subway.” It was a two-handed argument in which Pembleton tries to determine whether a man (Vincent D'Onofrio) trapped between a Baltimore subway train and the platform was pushed onto the tracks – while also trying to to comfort him in his final moments.
Braugher's second Emmy was for his performance as the leader of a crew planning a high-stakes heist in the 2006 FX miniseries Thief.
After replacing Wendell Pierce, he stood out – as always – as Owen Thoreau Jr. opposite Ray Romano and Scott Bakula in the TNT dramedy Men of a Specific Age (2009-11). He received two Emmy nominations for this and four for Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
The royal braugher first made a name for himself on television as a detective. Winston Blake in a series of telefilms with Telly Savalas and Kojak that aired in 1989–90, and was another crime solver, former Philadelphia police officer turned taxi driver Mike Olshansky, in the CBS series Hack from 2002–04 .
In between, he portrayed a character based on a real-life doctor in the 2000-2001 ABC series “Gideon's Crossing,” created by “Homicide” creator Paul Attanasio.
He made a career out of playing outstanding personalities.
Braugher was cast in February as the male lead in Shonda Rhimes' Netflix drama series “The Residence,” in which he will star opposite Uzo Aduba. The crime series The White House began production but was halted due to Hollywood's one-two punch.
He had already completed filming many of his scenes for the series, with filming scheduled to resume in January. It's unclear what “The Residence” showrunner Paul William Davies (“Scandal”) will do after his death.
Braugher recently portrayed New York Times editor-in-chief Dean Baquet in She Said (2002), about the two journalists whose reporting led to the prosecution of Harvey Weinstein and sparked the #MeToo movement.
He also starred in the sixth and final season of Paramount+'s legal drama The Good Fight in 2022.
“I may not be the best actor in the world, but I just can't play the one-dimensional roles. “I can’t do cartoons of people,” Braugher told The Washington Post in 1990. “If the role is cute, I want to make it ugly.” If it’s ugly, I want to make it cute.”
The youngest of four children, André Keith Braugher was born on July 1, 1962 in Chicago. His father worked as a heavy equipment operator and his mother worked for the US Postal Service. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep in his hometown and then earned a BA from Stanford University and a master's degree from Juilliard University, both after receiving scholarships.
Early on, he was a frequent actor in Shakespeare in the Park productions at the Public Theater in New York City, and over the years he played roles in Richard II, Henry V, Hamlet and As You Like It.
Braugher's cinematic resume was impressive: Edward Zwick's Glory (1989), Gregory Hoblit's Primal Fear (1996), Spike Lee's Get on the Bus (1996), City of Angels (1998), All The Rage (1999), Thick as Thieves ( 1999), Duets (2000), Frequency (2000), A Better Way to Die (2000), Poseidon (2006), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Frank Darabont's The Mist (2007), Passengers ( 2008 ), Phillip Noyce's Salt (2010) and Spirit Untamed (2021).
Other notable credits included work in the 1990 Turner television film “The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson”; the 1999 TNT television film “Passing Glory,” directed by Steve James; the 2002 Showtime television film 10,000 Black Men Named George, directed by Robert Townsend; and the 2004 and 2008 miniseries Salem's Lot and The Andromeda Strain.
Survivors include his wife, actress Ami Brabson (they worked together on the murder series Murder and married in 1991); sons Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley; brother Charles; and mother Sally. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Classical Theater of Harlem.
In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Homicide producer Tom Fontana noted that the series began “as an ensemble piece.” And that became The André Braugher Show. All the writers wanted to write for him because he was great and because they wanted to see if they could screw him up and throw him off track.
“He could say so much with his eyes,” Fontana added. “We'd write these incredibly glorious speeches for him, and then you'd see him looking at someone and sometimes we'd say, 'Stop the monologue.' He's already sold it.'”