NEW YORK — Louis Gossett Jr., a dynamic and commanding actor from Coney Island who turned down a spot on the New York Knicks to embark upon a barrier-breaking stage and screen career that won him an Emmy and an Oscar, died Friday at a nursing home in Santa Monica, California.

Brooklyn native Gossett died early in the morning of natural causes, said his publicist, Em Fergusson. He had struggled earlier in his life with a drug addiction, and he battled cancer in his later years.

Standing an imposing 6 feet, 4 inches tall and performing with a fiery, magnetic intensity, Gossett won his Emmy for his role as the comforting Fiddler in the 1977 miniseries “Roots.” He earned his Academy Award — the first best supporting actor Oscar to go to a Black man — for his turn as the intimidatingly no-nonsense Sgt. Emil Foley in the 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

Across his nearly seven-decade career, Gossett appeared in Broadway productions of “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Chicago,” and in hundreds of roles on screen. His final film credit was as Ol’ Mister in last year's “The Color Purple.”

He could sing too: Between shows on Broadway early in his career, he would belt folk songs at Greenwich Village clubs.

He first made his mark as a stage performer, appearing in seven Broadway productions from 1959 to 1971, before pivoting to a largely TV- and movie-focused stretch of his career, in which he took on roles as varied as the voice of Drill Sergeant in “Family Guy” and an elderly Cuban musician in the 2019 film drama “The Cuban.”

The socially conscious Gossett was far more than a performer. He launched the anti-bigotry group Eracism. And he was a lodestar for younger generations, showing how to walk dual tracks as an artist and activist, said Kenny Leon, an influential Tony winning Broadway director.

Leon, who recalled Gossett’s personal touch — he came to the opening of each of the director’s productions — said the actor’s body of work as a performer and prison-reform-focused activist rendered him “more than a king.”

“Our great kings and emperors are going on, but they left some great work,” Leon said by phone, describing Gossett as “witty, funny, warm” and easygoing in private.

Gossett’s career and work was shaped by the racism he overcame.

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