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    Emmys In Memoriam Segment Pays Tribute to Matthew Perry and Norman Lear

    The Emmys paid tribute to the actors, writers and producers who died since the last awards, taking an extra beat to honor Norman Lear, the famed TV writer and producer who died last month at 101.The in memoriam segment recognized two television actors who died unexpectedly: Andre Braugher, who was known for his roles on “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”; and Matthew Perry, the “Friends” star. (The musical accompaniment, from the duo the War and Treaty and Charlie Puth, included the “Friends” theme song.)Here are other members of the television industry who the program recognized:Angela Lansbury, the famed actress who starred in “Murder, She Wrote.”Angus Cloud, who portrayed a lovable drug dealer on the HBO show “Euphoria.”Barbara Walters, the pioneering TV news reporter.Bob Barker, the longtime host of “The Price Is Right.”David Jacobs, who created the soap opera “Dallas.”Harry Belafonte, the barrier-breaking performer in music, movies and TV.Leslie Jordan, the comic actor who was a cast member on “Will & Grace.”Mark Margolis, who played a fearsome former drug lord in “Breaking Bad.”Paul Reubens, the comic actor behind Pee-wee Herman.Richard Roundtree, the prolific actor who had recurring roles in “Heroes,” “Being Mary Jane” and “Family Reunion.”Ron Cephas Jones, who won two Emmys for his role on “This Is Us.”Stephen Boss, the dancer and reality star known as tWitch.Suzanne Somers, who gained fame on the hit sitcom “Three’s Company” before building a health and diet business empire. More

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    What to Watch: ‘Men of a Certain Age’ With Andre Braugher

    Two of the actor’s best performance are, unfortunately, not streaming. But what is perhaps his warmest performance is available on Max.From left, Ray Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula in a scene from “Men of a Certain Age,” one of the best series starring Braugher that is actually streaming.Danny Feld/TNTThe actor Andre Braugher’s death on Monday signals the end of an era for television — the era in which his vibrant, engrossing performances helped carve out what top-shelf television could be. His presence on any show — in any scene — was a sign to perk up one’s ears, and the arc of his television career is the arc of modern television.When network dramas were the best thing going, Braugher was the best on the best. When basic cable became home to creative, distinctive shows, there was Braugher, in antihero mode on “Thief” and later in grounded, more easygoing mode on “Men of a Certain Age.” Quirky single-camera network comedy, snappy streaming drama — where goes Braugher, so goes our attention.“Homicide: Life on the Street” is among the greatest network dramas in television history — and it can’t exist without Braugher’s electric, Emmy-winning performance as Frank Pembleton, a passionate, exacting Baltimore detective. In a show filled with superb acting and rich stories, Braugher is still the standout. I will never understand why this show is not streaming; I feel I have been banging this drum since before drums were invented.Also absent from streaming is the bleak and intense 2006 miniseries “Thief,” for which Braugher won his second Emmy. He starred as the head of a crime ring in post-Katrina New Orleans, and the show was half dark heists, half wrenching domestic drama, with Braugher as a grieving widower at odds with his teenage stepdaughter (Mae Whitman, also terrific). You will never see better weeping on television.While “Homicide” is probably the brightest star in the Braugher galaxy, “Men of a Certain Age” is perhaps the warmest. Luckily, this one is streaming; both seasons are on Max. Braugher stars with Ray Romano and Scott Bakula as longtime friends, each struggling with feeling simultaneously stuck and adrift. Bakula was the bachelor free spirit; Romano was the anxious soon-to-be-divorced dad; and Braugher was the ground-down family man, Owen, who works at his father’s car dealership, which fills him with resentment he can’t quite confront.Every time I revisit “Men,” I’m struck anew by its lyricism and perceptiveness, and even when I intend to look up one clip, I wind up watching seven episodes. Owen both gives and receives lectures, and Braugher shines equally as an authority on life and as the mad little boy being scolded. While he delivers a more strictly comedic performance on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Braugher is hilarious here, too, and where “Nine-Nine” is cartoonish, “Men” is naturalistic. It’s a softer role in some ways — gentle, unfussy — but Braugher’s mastery of rhythm is in full force.In “Homicide,” Pembleton survives a stroke but endures its lingering effects on his speech, mobility and cognition. In “Men,” Owen has poorly managed Type 1 diabetes. Though the characters are different in almost all ways, they’re both people who avoid fragility. Braugher’s performances were so total that you couldn’t imagine a fault line — there had to be some other force chipping away at his vitality. His death feels more shocking because of it. How could a performer so totally alive ever be anything but? More

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    Andre Braugher Died of Lung Cancer, His Publicist Says

    Mr. Braugher, who died this week, received the diagnosis a few months ago. The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor won an Emmy for his work on “Homicide: Life on the Street.”Andre Braugher, the Emmy-winning actor who died this week at 61, was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago before succumbing to the disease, his longtime publicist, Jennifer Allen, said on Thursday.When Ms. Allen confirmed his death this week, she said he had died after a brief illness. A 2014 profile by The New York Times Magazine said that Mr. Braugher was intensely private and “stopped drinking alcohol and smoking years ago.”Though he had an expansive career, Mr. Braugher was best known for his roles as a stoic, composed police officer on “Homicide: Life on the Street,” the 1990s NBC police procedural, and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the Fox sitcom that later moved to NBC.Mr. Braugher won Emmy Awards in 1998 for his work as Detective Frank Pembleton on “Homicide” and in 2006 for his role as a coolheaded crook in the six-part FX crime thriller “Thief.” He was nominated four times for his portrayal of Capt. Raymond Holt in “Brookyn Nine-Nine.” More

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    Andre Braugher: Captain Holt on ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and More Defining Roles

    The versatile actor was most known for vastly different portrayals of TV cops, but also shone in roles across film and stage.Andre Braugher, an Emmy-winning actor who, for over 30 years, adapted his no-nonsense, unflappable persona to great success across genres on television, in film and onstage, died at 61 years old on Monday night after a brief illness. Most famous for his roles as police officers — early in his career in the procedural “Homicide: Life on the Street” and later in the sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — Braugher fell in love with acting while attending Stanford University, where he first performed in a student production of “Hamlet.” He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts from Juilliard School. “When I graduated from school, I felt like I had the tiger by the tail; I could do almost anything,” Braugher told Variety in 2020.Here’s a look back at some of the moments that would go on to define Braugher’s career.1988“Glory”Braugher made his film debut in “Glory” in 1998.TriStar Pictures, via Getty ImagesBraugher’s father was reluctant to support his acting career — Braugher remembered him saying, “Show me Black actors who are earning a living. What the hell are you going to do, juggle and travel the country?” — but landing a supporting role in “Glory” was a crucial early breakthrough. He played the studious, timid union Corporal Thomas Searles in the Civil War drama alongside Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.1990Making His Mark in TheaterBraugher won an Obie for his turn as “Henry V” in 1996.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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    Andre Braugher, ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and ‘Homicide’ Actor, Dies at 61

    Mr. Braugher was best known for playing stoic police officers in the two acclaimed television series. He died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist said.Andre Braugher, an Emmy Award-winning actor best known for playing stoic police officers on the television shows “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died on Monday. He was 61.His death was confirmed on Tuesday by his longtime publicist Jennifer Allen. She said that Mr. Braugher, who lived in New Jersey, had died after a brief illness. She did not elaborate.Mr. Braugher had a breakout role as an intense cop on “Homicide,” a 1990s Baltimore crime show that chronicled the frustrations of policing a city beset with murders. He spent the last years of his life playing another serious police officer in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but in a very different register: The series was a sitcom, and he played his role as a police commander for laughs. He also earned plaudits for his portrayal of an openly gay cop who didn’t play to stereotypes.In between, he showed his range by playing parts as diverse as Shakespeare’s Henry V, a car salesman named Owen Thoreau Jr. and an executive editor of The New York Times grappling with the investigative reporting that would kick off the #MeToo era.“I’ve worked with a lot of wonderful actors,” the former Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon, who wrote the book that “Homicide” was based on years before he created the seminal crime drama “The Wire,” said in a post on social media. “I’ll never work with one better.”Mr. Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton, right, and James Earl Jones in an episode of “Homicide.”Michael Ginsbury/NBCU Photo Bank, via Getty ImagesAndre Keith Braugher was born in Chicago on July 1, 1962, and grew up on the city’s West Side. His mother, Sally Braugher, worked for the United States Postal Service. His father, Floyd Braugher, was a heavy-equipment operator for the state of Illinois.“We lived in a ghetto,” he told The New York Times in 2014. “I could have pretended I was hard or tough and not a square. I wound up not getting in trouble. I don’t consider myself to be especially wise, but I will say that it’s pretty clear that some people want to get out and some people don’t. I wanted out.”Mr. Braugher attended St. Ignatius College Prep, a prestigious, Jesuit Catholic high school in Chicago, and later earned a scholarship to Stanford University. His father, who wanted his son to be an engineer, was furious when he gravitated to acting instead.“Show me Black actors who are earning a living,” his father told him at the time. “What the hell are you going to do, juggle and travel the country?”After graduating from Stanford with a major in math, Mr. Braugher earned a Masters of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School.One of his first professional acting roles was in “Glory,” an Oscar-winning 1989 film about Black soldiers fighting for the Union during the American Civil War. Its star-studded cast included Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington.“I’d rather not work than do a part I’m ashamed of,” Mr. Braugher told The Times that year. “I can tell you now that my mother will be proud of me when she sees me in this role.”Mr. Braugher, far left, next to Denzel Washington, in “Glory.” It was one of his first professional acting roles.Everett Collection, via Alamy Mr. Braugher, who insisted on living in New Jersey even though he often worked in California, would go on to star in many other films. Among the highlights were “Get on the Bus” (1996), about a group of Black men traveling to Washington for the Million Man March, and “City of Angels” (1998), about an angel (Nicolas Cage) who falls in love with a doctor (Meg Ryan).One of Mr. Braugher’s last film projects was “She Said” (2022), a drama about New York Times reporters’ efforts to document sexual abuse by the film mogul Harvey Weinstein. Mr. Braugher played Dean Baquet, the newspaper’s executive editor at the time.He also performed Shakespearean roles at the New York Shakespeare Festival and other venues. In 2014, he told The Times that he was saving the play “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” for later in life.“I’ve never read it because I’d like to see one Shakespeare play that I don’t know what happens,” he said.Ms. Allen said that Mr. Braugher is survived by his wife, the actress Ami Brabson; his sons Michael, Isaiah and John Wesley; his brother, Charles Jennings; and his mother. His father died in 2011.His most recent project, “The Residence,” a miniseries about a murder in the White House, had been scheduled to resume shooting in January after shutting down because of the Writers Guild of America strike, the entertainment site Deadline reported.As Capt. Raymond Holt in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”FOX Image Collection, via Getty ImagesMr. Braugher was best known for his acting on acclaimed television series, which included the lead role of an unorthodox physician on the ABC drama “Gideon’s Crossing” (2000-2001) and the car salesman Owen Thoreau Jr. on the TNT series “Men of a Certain Age” (2009-2011). He also starred in the sixth and final season of the Paramount+ legal drama “The Good Fight” (2017-2022).On “Homicide,” a police procedural that ran from 1993 to 1998, Mr. Braugher played Frank Pembleton, a Baltimore homicide detective. It was a breakout role that earned him an Emmy Award in 1998, along with two Television Critics Association Awards in 1997 and 1998 for best actor in a drama series.In 2006, he won an Emmy for outstanding performance by a lead actor in a miniseries for his starring role as a gang leader in “Thief,” an FX miniseries about crime in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.And on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” a comedy show that aired from 2013 to 2021, Mr. Braugher played Capt. Raymond Holt, a comically stern precinct commander. He received four Emmy nominations and won two Critics Choice Awards for best supporting actor in a comedy series.After the first few episodes of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” aired, he told The New York Times that he saw parallels between that show and “Homicide.”“I don’t want to go way out on a limb about this, you know what I’m saying, and be challenged about it,” he said. “But I think they’re both workplace comedies. In essence it’s taken 20 years to come full circle, but I think they’re in the same place.”Rebecca Carballo More