Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Andre Braugher dies aged 61

Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning actor best known for his roles on the series Homicide: Life on The Street and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, died on Monday at the age of 61.

Braugher’s publicist Jennifer Allen told The Associated Press the actor died after a short illness.

The Chicago-born actor had his breakthrough role in 1989’s  Glory, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for the film about an all-black army regiment during the Civil War.

Despite the part, he told The Associated Press in 2019 that he struggled to find work in a Hollywood where roles for African American actors were “few and far between. Period”.

But he established himself with the role of Det. Frank Pembleton, which he played for seven seasons in Homicide: Life on the Street, a gritty police drama on NBC based on a book by David Simon, who went on to create The Wire.

He won his first career Emmy for the role, taking the trophy for lead actor in a drama series in 1998.

Braugher won his second for lead actor for the 2006 limited series Thief on FX. He was nominated for 11 Emmys overall.

Years later, he played a very different kind of cop on a very different kind of show, shifting to comedy as Capt. Ray Holt on the Andy Samberg-starring Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show ran for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021 on Fox and NBC.

Though he dipped his toe into comedy in the TNT dramedy Men of a Certain Age, Brooklyn Nine-Nine still represented a major shift for Braugher who was known for acting in dark and heavy dramas.

“I just felt as though it was an opportunity to do something strikingly different from the rest of my career,” Braugher told AP.

“I like it because it just simply opens up my mind and forces me to think in a different way. So I think I’ve become much more sort of supple as an actor, and more open to the incredible number of possibilities of how to play a scene.”

He was nominated for four Emmys during the run.

Braugher’s other film credits included Primal Fear and Get on the Bus, and on TV he played roles in Hack, Gideon’s Crossing and The Good Fight.

He also acted frequently on the stage, often doing Shakespeare. He won an Obie Award for playing the title 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 Ami Brabson. He is also survived by sons Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley, his brother Charles Jennings and his mother Sally Braugher.

Stars pay tribute

Terry Crews, who played Lieutenant Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, was among the Hollywood stars remembering Braugher for his “irreplaceable talent”.

“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.”

Meanwhile, actor Marc Evan Jackson, who played Braugher’s on-screen husband in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, shared a picture of the pair hugging while on set, wearing their wedding rings.

He captioned the post on Twitter: “O Captain. My Captain.”

David Simon, who wrote Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets which inspired the 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 Twitter.

“Stunned and thinking of Ami and his sons and so many memories of this good man that are now a blessing.”

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