HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Louis Gossett Jr. has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but says doctors caught the disease early and he expects to make a full recovery.
The Academy Award-winning star went public with his condition Tuesday, saying he wanted “to set an example for the large number of African-American men who are victims of this disease because of the comparatively low emphasis in our community on preventative examinations and early treatment. I want to influence them to seek, as I have, the fine medical care and early detection now available.”
“I count this diagnosis among the many challenges I have faced in my life and overcome. I expect this to be no different,” the actor said in a statement.
Gossett, 73, has appeared in dozens of films over the course of his long career. He won an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1983 for his role as Sgt. Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman.
His memoir, An Actor and a Gentleman, is due to be published on May 10.
The Brooklyn native next appears in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too, which hits theaters in April.
