Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. was showing off two symbols of pride during a recent tour of his rural Malibu home-his new streamlined body and the T-shirt that was covering it.
The body-his 6-foot-4-inch frame, which had blown up by more than 30 pounds, is now a lean and muscular 205 pounds-comes courtesy of the rigid training schedule set up for his new movie, ”Diggstown,” which opens Friday. Gossett plays a boxer/con man who teams with hustler James Woods to separate a serious amount of money from a despicable businessman. The actor calls the film a cross between ”Rocky” and ”The Sting.”
The T-shirt Gossett is wearing is symbolic of a different kind of training he completed. The snappy saying emblazoned on the front of the shirt-”Warning, carrying a grudge can be hazardous to your health”-is a reminder of the mental garbage that the actor had been carrying around since his Oscar for 1982`s ”An Officer and a Gentleman.”
When an anticipated rush of film offers never materialized, a bitter Gossett lapsed into bouts of anger and depression, blaming the lack of offers on racism and turning to drugs and alcohol for solace.
Only recently, after rehabilitation programs and mental toughening, has he come to grips with his nearly decade-long slide.
”I went on a personal search, and I grabbed at everything I could to help me,” he said. ”The big mistake was thinking that I would find the answers outside myself.”
Gossett, 55, said he finally realized he had options to pursue other than acting in films. He now is content to lead a more balanced, and less hectic, life. He not only acts but produces films and television programs. He has married again and is raising his two sons.
When he was growing up in Brooklyn, Gossett had a choice of careers-acting and basketball. He was good enough at the former to star in his first Broadway play, ”Take a Giant Step,” at 17.
He was good enough at the latter to star on his New York University basketball team and be drafted by the New York Knicks.
He attended the Knicks` rookie training camp after college but discovered it was a lot rougher under the boards than it was on the boards.
”It got real dangerous up at camp, and I decided that I didn`t want to put my body through that. I had something else to fall back on, so I left camp and returned to acting. Of course, I stole the uniform they gave me before I left.”
Based on his performance in the hit play ”A Raisin in the Sun,” Gossett was offered the same role in the film version, and that began his lengthy movie career.
In 1977, he won an Emmy for his portrayal of Fiddler in the epic mini-series ”Roots” and then went on to garner five more Emmy nominations, including one for his portrayal of slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
His trademark shaved head resulted from a role in the 1975 movie ”The River Niger.” He had to play older than he was, and he decided to cut off his already thinning hair to embellish the role.
”After the film was over, my agent called and suggested that I keep it shaved. He said he could sell the hell out of me with a shaved head because it was so different.”
Although the roles weren`t always up to the caliber of an Oscar recipient, there were plenty of them, and he struck box-office gold with the series of three ”Iron Eagle” movies that made money but brought him no acting accolades.
Between his second and third ”Iron Eagle” movies, he made the 1989 film ”The Punisher,” for which he gained 20 pounds.
”I did a Robert De Niro (a la `Raging Bull`), but I was no Robert De Niro,” Gossett said, laughing. ”And not only could I not get the weight off, my metabolism was lowered so I kept gaining weight. I was the world`s fattest Green Beret in that movie.”
The chance to train as a boxer was one of the many attractions that Gossett said he found in ”Diggstown.”
Because he was supposed to be a great fighter, the actor had to work out with four trainers at least six hours a day.
”It`s the hard way to lose weight, but it`s also the only way,” Gossett said. ”Now I work out about an hour a day.”
