An Actor and a Gentleman
Today, it's hard to imagine the world Gossett Jr. inhabited during much of his acting and music career: driving to a Hollywood movie studio in a convertible in 1968, he was stopped eight times by police who assumed he had stolen the car (a similar event would occur in 1986); during that same period, while his white co-stars stayed at swank hotels, he checked in at a fleabag Washington Boulevard motel that was one of the few to admit blacks. It's a testament to Gossett's perseverance and faith in his fellow human beings that he is not bitter, but rather has devoted time and money to developing "The Eracism Foundation," an organization devoted to cultural diversity and ending racism. Gossett looks back on an impressive career that includes his Oscar-winning role in An Officer and a Gentleman and Emmy-winning work in Roots, but also a lifelong struggle with alcohol and drugs. For all his eventful recollections, however, Gossett's tone is strangely flat, robbing his memoir of emotional resonance and making it a bit of a chore to get through.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.