Louis Gossett Jr. Almost Played for the New York Knicks — Here’s Why He Turned the Gig Down (Exclusive)

It’s as if acting followed Louis Gossett Jr. – and not the other way around.

In this week’s issue of PEOPLE, the Oscar-winning actor, 87, who returned to the big screen in Purpletalks about his eventful life and winding road to Hollywood.

In the early 1950s, the native New Yorker had already started performing on Broadway when he graduated from high school and went to NYU on scholarship. At that time he also had hoop dreams.

“I was at the beginner’s training for [New York] Knicks when I got the call from [playwright] Lorraine Hansberry to be part of Raisins in the sun,” Gossett says of the original 1959 Broadway production of the now-iconic play, in which he starred opposite Sidney Poitier.

Sidney Poitier and Louis Gossett, Jr.

courtesy of the Everett Collection

When he heard how much the role paid, he knew it was time to turn around. “They said the part came with a $700 per diem, more money than most professional athletes had in the bank at the time. I dropped the basketball and the rest is history.”

An accomplished guitarist, Gossett says his music career suffered a similar fate. Between theater concerts, “I passed musicians playing in the cafes down in the Village,” he recalls. “When I got my first acting job, I quit [music] business.”

In the 60s, he moved to Los Angeles and began a film and TV career. Emmy for role in the seminal TV miniseries in 1977 Roots He followed, and in 1983 he became the first black Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor, for his incredible turn as a tough Marine Corps instructor in An officer and a gentlemanopposite Richard Gere.

Richard Gere and Louis Gossett, Jr.

Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection

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Gossett recalls that he was far from the first choice for the role. “They hired another actor who was white, but when director Taylor Hackford found out that 75% of the DI Marines were black, they paid him and hired me. I went to the Marine Corps in San Diego to study for six weeks. When I showed up on set, I was a Marine.”

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Louis Gossett, Jr. and Richard Gere.

Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

Reminiscing about the shoot, he recalls his co-star Gere struggling as they filmed their memorable scene in the mud together. “I remember it was a weekend. It was difficult for Richard,” he says. “But he’s a great man, I like him a lot. The truth is, we were all stars in that movie.”

Over the next four decades after his big win for the role, Gossett, a thrice-divorced father of two, continued to choose projects with a purpose, including his most recent role as the stubborn patriarch in Purple. As for retirement, that is not in his plans. “I’m still here,” he says. “God must have something else for me.”

For more stories and pictures from the fascinating life of Louis Gossett Jr., pick up this week’s issue of the magazine PEOPLE.

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Source: HIS Education