Brooklyn Nine-Nine Actor Andre Braugher Dead at 61
It's time for the 99th Precinct to say goodbye to Andre Braugher.
The actor—who portrayed Captain Raymond Holt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine from 2013 to 2021—died on Dec. 11 following a brief illness, his rep confirmed to E! News. He was 61.
Further details on his cause of death have not been shared.
His costars were among those to mourn the loss, with Terry Crews writing on Instagram Dec. 12, "Can't believe you're gone so soon. I'm honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts. You left us too soon."
Born in Chicago, Braugher studied at Juilliard before entering Hollywood during a time when roles for African American actors were "few and far between," he told the Associated Press in 2019.
He scored his breakout role in the 1989 movie Glory alongside Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, but it was in four years later that he rose to fame playing detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street. In addition to earning an Emmy for the role, Homicide was a special moment in his career, as he was able to costar with his wife Ami Brabson, who he had married in 1991.
As a crime show alum, Braugher may have seemed a natural fit to play the strict police captain on Brooklyn Nine-Nine nearly two decades later. However, the actor was admittedly nervous to step back into the uniform and make the move into comedy.
"Everything's new. I'd never done it before. Am I any good?" Braugher recalled of his thought process to Variety in 2020. "I remember turning to my wife and asking her, ‘Is this funny?' And she said, ‘Yes, of course, you're not being deceived.' But I kept looking at it, saying to myself, is this good? I couldn't really judge."
But according to costar Andy Samberg, Braugher already had the comedic skills to play the stern-faced police captain.
"He has gotten even better as the seasons have gone on," Samberg told Variety. "And very often when he's concerned that a joke is sacrificing the greater good, his instincts are correct."
For Braugher, playing law enforcement characters for years made him question how police are perceived, especially following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.
"I look up after all these decades of playing these characters," he told the outlet. "I, too, have fallen prey to the mythology that's been built up... It's almost like the air you breathe or the water that you swim in. It's hard to see."
He believed the public had developed views about police from the many procedurals they see on TV, noting, "That's something that we're going to have to collectively address—all cop shows."
When he left the badge behind on set each day, Braugher stepped back into his role as father to three adult sons with Brabson, who he called "like-minded" due to growing up in similar neighborhoods.
"We share the same values," the City of Angels star explained. "She knows me like the back of her hand, and I'm grateful for that."
Though he said he prioritized spending time with his family over advancing his career, Braugher was able to appear in films including Frequency (2000) and The Mist (2007), in addition to the 2006 TV miniseries Thief, which earned him another Emmy.
"It's been an interesting career, but I think it could have been larger," he shared. "I think it could have spanned more disciplines: directing, producing, all these other different things. But it would have been at the expense of my own life."
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