Malcolm-Jamal Warner dead at 54: Remembering his undersung, award-winning post-‘Cosby Show' career
Unlike the typical career of a child actor, Warner's carried on consistently after his breakout role on The Cosby Show, leading subsequent series of his own like Malcolm & Eddie and Reed Between the Lines, the latter of which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He also made memorable appearances on Community and in the Emmy-winning first season of American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, on which he played Al Cowlings, the driver during the famous Bronco chase.
More from Gold Derby
'It feels like I've won the Medal of Freedom': Molly Gordon loves being part of the Emmy-nominated 'The Bear'
Anne Hathaway reveals first-look photo from 'The Devil Wears Prada 2': Everything to know about anticipated sequel
But Warner's post-Cosby endeavors were not limited to work in front of the camera. He took to directing early on in his career, helming five episodes of The Cosby Show, along with episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Kenan & Kel, All That, and The Resident in 2022.
His breakout performance on The Cosby Show scored him his sole Emmy nomination, a nod for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series alongside Newhart's Tom Poston, Cheers' John Ratzenberger and George Wendt, all of whom lost to John Larroquette for Night Court.
Warner had more luck, however, at a different award show: the Grammys.
A spoken word poet and bass player, he put out his first EP in 2003, The Miles Long Mixtape. He would eventually release three more records — 2007's Love & Other Social Issues, 2015's Selfless, and 2022's Hiding in Plain Sight.
Warner won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song "Jesus Children" with Robert Glaser and Lalah Hathaway.
The Grammys nominated him again recently, in 2023 for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album with Hiding in Plain Sight.
Best of Gold Derby
'Five new life forms from distant planets': Everything to know about 'Alien: Earth' as new trailer drops
Everything to know about 'The Pitt' Season 2, including the departure of Tracy Ifeachor's Dr. Collins
Everything to know about 'Too Much,' Lena Dunham's Netflix TV show starring Megan Stalter that's kinda, sorta 'based on a true story'
Click here to read the full article.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Malcolm Jamal-Warner Drowning Death: Second Swimmer Survived Ordeal
First responders in Costa Rica managed to revive a second swimmer in distress on Sunday using CPR, but were unable to save the life of The Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. A statement from the Red Cross in the Latin American country says first responders received word on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. that two male swimmers required emergency treatment due to a 'water-related incident' at Playa Grande, Cahuita, Limon. More from The Hollywood Reporter Paramount Execs Tell Staff That Africa Offices and Channels May Close Amid Strategy Review (Exclusive) Disability Advocate, AGC Studios Boss, 'Poor Things' Producer, Berlinale Boss Set for Locarno Pro TelevisaUnivision Quarterly U.S. Ad Revenue Drops 2 Percent, Streamer ViX Tops 10M Subscribers Three ambulances immediately rushed to the oceanside beach and emergency personnel attended to two adult male patients. Paramedics using CPR managed to revive one of the swimmers, who was transported in 'critical condition' to a local clinic in Limon, according to the Red Cross. But CPR performed on a second swimmer, who turned out to be Warner, did not succeed and 'he was unfortunately declared deceased at the scene,' the statement said. The first responders then turned the scene over to Costa Rican police authorities 'for the appropriate legal procedures.' The late Emmy-nominated actor and director, who played Theo Huxtable on the long-running Bill Cosby comedy, has received a slew of tributes from the entertainment industry following news of his accidental drowning. High-profile figures that have remembered Warner include Questlove, Tracee Ellis Ross, Magic Johnson, Jamie Foxx, Taraji P. Henson, Ben Crump, Atlanta Senator Raphael Warnock and musician Maxwell. Costa Rican National Police earlier declared Warner died from asphyxia after getting caught by a strong ocean current just off a beach in Limon. His body was formally identified by the authorities. Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Party in the U.S.A.' to 'Born in the U.S.A.': 20 of America's Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Buzz Feed
5 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Tracee Ellis Ross Rejected Oprah Winfrey Calling Her The "Poster Child For Singledom": "I Don't Want To Be That"
Tracee Ellis Ross is reflecting on Oprah's comments about her ongoing single status. The moment came in an episode of Tracee's new series, Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross, which finds the Emmy-winning actor exploring the joys of the world as a single and childless woman. Reflecting on the freedom of solo travel, Tracee said, "So much of what traveling is about, is for me, not waiting for something in order to walk towards my life, in order to be in my life, in order to experience my life. I think that was why I took my first trip solo. And I know that in some ways — I mean, Oprah said it. She said that I'm the poster child for singledom. I don't want to be that." Instead, Tracee prefers to reframe the conversation as someone living on their own terms and not waiting for traditional things to add value and meaning to their life. "I want to be the poster child for being an inhabitant in your own skin," Tracee said. "For living in your own skin." Although some might see being single and childless at an older age as a negative, Tracee, 52, says it has afforded her a freedom and an experience that she might not have otherwise had. "Yes, I am a single Black woman who does not have children, but not having a relationship — long, long relationships — not having children has allowed me to explore things of my own humanity," she reflected. "It has deposited me here at 52 in an extraordinary experience that is filled with joy, loneliness, grief, exuberance, delight, like, literally all of it. And I feel available to it." While Tracee didn't specify when Oprah's comments occurred, they appear to be from a 2020 interview on her Your Live in Focus series, where Oprah told Tracee how many single women view her as "an example of what being an unmarried woman could and should look like." When asked if she ever imagined playing that role, Tracee laughed, "No. I, like many of us, was taught to grow up dreaming of my wedding, not of my life." She added, "I spent many years dreaming of my wedding, and also, waiting to be chosen. Well, here's the thing. I'm the chooser. And I can choose to get married if I want to, but in the meantime, I am choicefully single, happily, gloriously single." She repeated that message in a 2021 interview with Harper's Bazaar: "People are like, 'You're the poster child for being single.' And I was like, 'Great.' But what I would prefer is that I'm the poster child for living my life on my terms. And that there's a version of that for everyone. I don't live my life for other people. I just totally live it for me." You can (and should!) watch Solo Traveling With Tracee Ellis Ross now on Roku. Trust me when I say — it's great. Let me know what you think of her reflections in the comments below, too.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Granderson: Malcolm-Jamal Warner carried a heavy load for Black America
There were three television characters who really mattered to me as a kid: Michael, Leroy and Theo. In elementary school, 'Good Times' was the television show that most closely resembled my family. And seeing reruns of Ralph David Carter's portrayal of a precocious young boy learning what it means to be poor, gifted and Black is what moved his Michael from fiction to family for me. By middle school, I was no longer wearing cornrows like Gene Anthony Ray, but I tried everything else to be like his character Leroy from the television show 'Fame.' For some of my classmates, the performing arts were a fun way to express themselves, and the show was inspirational. For me, it was my way out of the hood, and Leroy was the blueprint. Through the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, I was able to take professional dance lessons for free and ultimately earned a dance scholarship for college. But it wasn't a linear journey. Despite being gifted, I struggled academically and required summer classes to graduate from high school. That's why I connected with Theo, whose challenges in the classroom were one of the running jokes on 'The Cosby Show.' The family never gave up on him, and more importantly, he didn't stop trying. Through the jokes about his intelligence, the coming-of-age miscues (and the dyslexia diagnosis), the storylines of Theo — like those of Leroy and Michael — often reflected struggles I foolishly thought no one else was experiencing when I was growing up. It is only through distance and time are we able to see moments like those more clearly. In retrospect, the three of them were like knots I held onto on a rope I had no idea I was climbing. This is why the Black community's response to the death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner this week isn't solely rooted in nostalgia but also in gratitude. We recognize the burden he's been carrying, so that others could climb. When 'The Cosby Show' debuted in 1984, there were no other examples of a successful two-parent Black family on air. We were on television but often trauma and struggle — not love and support — were at the center of the narratives. So even though Black women had been earning law degrees since the 1800s — beginning with Charlotte E. Ray in 1872 — and Black men were becoming doctors before that, the initial response from critics was that the show's premise of a doctor-and-lawyer Black couple was not authentically Black. That narrow-minded worldview continued to hang over Hollywood despite the show's success. In 1992, after nearly 10 years of 'The Cosby Show' being No. 1 — and after the success of 'Beverly Hills Cop II' and 'Coming to America' — the Eddie Murphy-led project 'Boomerang' was panned as unrealistic because the main characters were all Black and successful. The great Murphy took on the Los Angeles Times directly in a letter for its critique on what Black excellence should look like. However, Black characters like Michael, Leroy and Theo had been taking on the media since the racist film 'The Birth of a Nation' painted all of us as threats in 1915. It could not have been easy for Warner, being the face of so much for so many at an age when a person is trying to figure out who he is. And because he was able to do so with such grace, Warner's Theo defined Blackness simply by being what the world said we were not. This sentiment is embodied in his last interview, when he answered the question of his legacy by saying: 'I will be able to leave this Earth knowing and people knowing that I was a good person.' In the end, that is ultimately what made his character, along with Leroy and Michael, so important to the Black community. It wasn't the economic circumstances or family structure of the sitcoms that they all had in common. It was their refusal to allow the ugliness of this world to tear them down. To change their hearts or turn their light into darkness. They maintained their humanity and in the process gave so many of us a foothold to keep climbing higher. YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
