Latest news with #Braugher
USA Today
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'The Residence' star Uzo Aduba remembers Andre Braugher: 'A class act'
'The Residence' star Uzo Aduba remembers Andre Braugher: 'A class act' Show Caption Hide Caption 'The Residence': Molly Griggs on playing a 'snobby, rich person' Molly Griggs, one of the stars of Netflix's "The Residence," chats with USA TODAY's Ralphie Aversa about her role and more. NEW YORK – Andre Braugher was a giant. The two-time Emmy winner, who died of lung cancer in 2023 at age 61, was a beloved stage and screen fixture for nearly four decades. He appeared in almost a dozen Shakespeare productions in New York and starred in popular crime procedurals including CBS' 'Hack' and NBC's 'Homicide: Life on the Street.' To younger generations, he was perhaps best known as the wry yet tender Captain Raymond Holt on police sitcom 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine,' which ended its eight-season run on Fox and NBC in 2021. In Netflix's knotty new mystery series 'The Residence' (now streaming), Braugher was originally cast in the key role of White House chief usher A.B. Wynter, whose murder prompts a sweeping investigation by the eccentric Detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba). The actor shot four episodes of the whodunit before production was shut down in summer 2023 amid the Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes. Braugher died in December of that year, and was recast in early 2024 with Giancarlo Esposito (AMC's 'Breaking Bad'). The series ends with a title card dedicated to the Golden Globe nominee, who made his film debut in 1989's "Glory." Given that A.B. is dead for nearly all of Detective Cupp's scenes, 'my time with him filming was mostly just him laying on the floor – and being wonderful doing it,' Aduba recalls with a grin. But they sat near each other many days during read-throughs, and in the hair and makeup chairs, where they'd have long conversations about 'anything and everything." 'My favorite memory is that he'd always say 'Hey, queen!' when he came in,' Aduba says. 'I asked, 'Why do you say that?' And Andre was like, 'Because you're the queen.' He was a class act, and an actor I'd admired since I was a kid. One time I told him I used to watch 'Homicide' at a wildly inappropriate age. So anything I would say after that, he would say, 'Were you doing that at a wildly inappropriate age?'' Molly Griggs, who butts heads with A.B. as social secretary Lilly Schumacher, recalls getting the opportunity to improvise with Braugher and feeling like she was 'going to pass out.' 'I genuinely made him laugh a couple times, and that is something I will treasure for the rest of my life,' Griggs says. 'I never really got the courage to tell him this, and I really wish I had, but his performance in 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' truly got me through the pandemic in particular. He was such a funny, smart, brilliant actor and a warm human being.' On set, she remembers Braugher would constantly talk about his wife of more than 30 years, actress Ami Brabson, as well as their three sons Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley. 'He would refer to his wife as 'my bride,'' Griggs recalls. He got the chance to see his son, Michael, play Hamlet onstage in Minneapolis the spring before he died, and 'he came back to work so proud. What really got me was that he talked about his son as a colleague. He really respected his work as an actor, but there was that underlying warmth of a father. His family was so lucky to have him.' Paul William Davies, who created 'The Residence,' remembers the first day he met Braugher, when they spent an hour and a half just discussing A.B. 'He was so thoughtful," Davies says. "He had read everything so carefully, and had all these insightful questions about who A.B. was and what his relationships were with the other characters." Before that discussion, 'I really felt like I knew A.B., yet he was asking me these things where I was like, 'Oh, I hadn't really thought about that before.' He was a genius.'
The Independent
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Why Netflix's The Residence is dedicated to Andre Braugher
Netflix series The Residence has been dedicated to Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine star was best known to many for his performance as the stoic Captain Raymond Holt in the police comedy. He died in December 2023 after a brief illness with lung cancer. At the time of his death, the 61-year-old was mid-way through filming The Residence, a series described by Netflix as 'a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world's most famous mansion'. The show is the latest Netflix release from producer Shonda Rhimes, responsible for hits including Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and Bridgerton. At the end of the eight-part series, a card reads: 'In Memory of Andre Braugher'. Braugher was due to play White House chief usher (AB Wynter) and had completed half of his scenes while the show was in production when he died. 'There might have been a natural inclination to do that after the first episode, but for me, it was important to do that at the end of the whole series, to say, you were part of all this, and we have not forgotten you,' creator Paul William Davies told Deadline. 'He lived with us throughout the entire making of this,' Davies told People. 'When he was here and when he was gone, we all thought about him constantly. His kind of spirit was throughout the whole show.' There was speculation Braugher could appear posthumously in the show but the team eventually made the decision to recast the role and he was replaced by Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito. The star told Shondaland that it had been 'a difficult decision for me to step into the shoes of Andre'. He added: "I couldn't be prouder and more honoured to be stepping into Shondaland's The Residence for someone that I loved and respected and cherished in Andre Braugher. "To be afforded the opportunity to create in his honour with this incredible team extends the depth and breadth of his legacy through all of us who loved him so dearly." Fans were left emotional at the tribute as one person wrote: 'The fact that Andre Braugher was filming the Residence when he died and the show is dedicated to him' alongside a picture of a cat crying. 'Loved the residence so much It was a good whodunit,' commented one person praising the programme. 'I was so glued to my chair and watched all eight episodes and I haven't done that in a while. The best part is that it was dedicated to Andre Braugher. Shonda, please take your flowers.'
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Why The Residence is dedicated to Andre Braugher
Netflix series The Residence has been dedicated to Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine star was best known to many for his performance as the stoic Captain Raymond Holt in the police comedy. He died in December 2023 after a brief illness with lung cancer. At the time of his death, the 61-year-old was mid-way through filming The Residence, a series described by Netflix as 'a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world's most famous mansion'. The show is the latest Netflix release from producer Shonda Rhimes, responsible for hits including Grey's Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and Bridgerton. At the end of the eight-part series, a card reads: 'In Memory of Andre Braugher'. Braugher was due to play White House chief usher (AB Wynter) and had completed half of his scenes while the show was in production when he died. 'There might have been a natural inclination to do that after the first episode, but for me, it was important to do that at the end of the whole series, to say, you were part of all this, and we have not forgotten you,' creator Paul William Davies told Deadline. 'He lived with us throughout the entire making of this,' Davies told People. 'When he was here and when he was gone, we all thought about him constantly. His kind of spirit was throughout the whole show.' There was speculation Braugher could appear posthumously in the show but the team eventually made the decision to recast the role and he was replaced by Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito. The star told Shondaland that it had been 'a difficult decision for me to step into the shoes of Andre'. He added: "I couldn't be prouder and more honoured to be stepping into Shondaland's The Residence for someone that I loved and respected and cherished in Andre Braugher. "To be afforded the opportunity to create in his honour with this incredible team extends the depth and breadth of his legacy through all of us who loved him so dearly." Fans were left emotional at the tribute as one person wrote: 'The fact that Andre Braugher was filming the Residence when he died and the show is dedicated to him' alongside a picture of a cat crying. 'Loved the residence so much It was a good whodunit,' commented one person praising the programme. 'I was so glued to my chair and watched all eight episodes and I haven't done that in a while. The best part is that it was dedicated to Andre Braugher. Shonda, please take your flowers.'
