Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star, dead at 61

Despite the part, he told Associated Press in 2019 that he struggled to find work in a Hollywood where roles for African-American actors were “few and far between. Period”.

But he would establish himself with the role of Detective Frank Pembleton, which he would play for seven seasons in Homicide: Life on the Street, a gritty police drama on NBC based on a book by David Simon, who would go on to create The Wire.

He would win his first career Emmy for the role, taking the trophy for lead actor in a drama series in 1998.

Sadness over death mixed with nostalgia for show which touched millions in China

He would win his second for lead actor in a miniseries or movie for the 2006 limited series Thief on FX. Braugher would be nominated for 11 Emmys overall.

Years later he would play a very different kind of cop on a very different kind of show, shifting to comedy as Captain Ray Holt on the Andy Samberg-starring Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It would run for eight seasons from 2013 to 2021 on Fox and NBC.

Though he’d dipped his toe into comedy in the TNT dramedy Men of a Certain Age, Brooklyn Nine-Nine still represented a major shift for Braugher, who was known for acting in dark and heavy dramas.

“I just felt as though it was an opportunity to do something strikingly different from the rest of my career,” Braugher told AP. “I like it because it just simply opens up my mind and forces me to think in a different way. So I think I’ve become much more sort of supple as an actor, and more open to the incredible number of possibilities of how to play a scene.”

He would be nominated for four Emmys during the run.

He was married for more than 30 years to his Homicide co-star Ami Brabson. They had three sons.

His death was first reported by Deadline.