Andre Braugher: The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor has died at the age of 61 due to a brief illness

Los Angeles (AFP) – Andre PragerThe Emmy Award-winning actor who mastered gritty drama for seven seasons on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and modern comedy for eight seasons on “Brooklyn ’99,” died Monday at the age of 61.

Prager died after a short illness, his agent, Jennifer Allen, told The Associated Press. No other details were provided.

The Chicago-born actor will prove himself in the role of Det. Frank Pembleton, the lead role in “Homicide: Life on the Street,” a dark police drama based on the book by David Simon, who went on to write “The Wire.” The show, which focused on the Baltimore Police Department’s homicide unit, ran for seven seasons on NBC, earning critical acclaim with Braugher as the dramatic center and breakout star.

He would win his first career Amy For this role, he won the Lead Actor in a Drama Series award in 1998.

He feared being typecast after spending most of the 1990s as a high-spirited detective.

“If I did this too long, I would stop researching and scrutinizing my work,” he told the AP in 1998. “This is just a huge risk.” I think I will escape this trap, and I will get a chance to do some work that will be more challenging for me.

This won’t be a problem. He went on to play a very different kind of cop in a very different kind of show, turning to comedy as Andy Samberg’s Captain Ray Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It will run for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021 on Fox and NBC.

Although he had dipped his toe into comedy on the TNT drama “Men of a Certain Age,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” still represented a big departure for Braugher, who was known for acting in dark, heavy dramas.

“I felt as though it was an opportunity to do something completely different from the rest of my career,” Prager said He told the Associated Press In 2019. “I love it because it simply opens my mind and forces me to think differently. So I think I’ve become more flexible as an actor, and more open to the amazing number of possibilities for how a scene can be played.

Prager co-starred in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Terry Crews He was among those who paid tribute to him Monday night.

“I can’t believe you’re gone so fast,” Cruz said on Instagram. I am honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. It hurts.” He added, “You showed me what a good life looks like.”

Braugher recently starred in the film “She Saad.” 2022 movie About the New York Times journalists who broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual abuse of women. Braugher played Times editor Dean Baquet.

Born and raised in Chicago, Brugger graduated from Stanford University and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Juilliard University.

He had his breakout role in the 1989 film “Glory,” in which he co-starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, which won an Oscar for the film about a black Army regiment during the Civil War.

Prager played frightened union corporal Thomas Searles in the film.

“I envisioned that character as heroic, but then I got a lot of scripts where I was constantly crying,” he told the Associated Press in 1993.

Despite the role, he told the AP in 2019 that before “Murder” he struggled to find work in Hollywood where roles for African-American actors were “few and far between.”

Braugher won his second Emmy for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for the 2006 FX limited series “Thief.” Braugher would be nominated for 11 Emmys overall.

His other film credits included “Primal Fear” and “Get on the Bus”, and his other television credits included “Hack”, “Gideon’s Crossing” and “The Good Fight”.

He also frequently acted on stage, often performing Shakespeare’s works. He won an Obie Award for playing the lead role in “Henry V” at the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he also appeared in “Measure for Measure,” “Twelfth Night” and “As You Like It.”

Braugher was married for more than 30 years to his “Homicide” co-star Amy Brabson. He is also survived by his sons, Michael, Isaiah, and John Wesley, his brother, Charles Jennings, and his mother, Sally Prager.