Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who performed The Cosby Present character Theo, has drowned in Costa Rica, in line with authorities.
The nation’s Judicial Investigation Division mentioned the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a seaside on the Caribbean coast.
It’s understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a present.
“He was rescued by individuals on the seaside,” in line with the division’s early report, however emergency staff from Costa Rica’s Purple Cross discovered him with none indicators of life and he was taken to the morgue.
Warner was on vacation together with his household on the time, in line with US superstar information web site Folks.
The Cosby Present aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC within the US and is thought to be a groundbreaking present for its portrayal of a profitable black middle-class household. It was additionally proven on Channel 4 within the UK at across the similar time.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner in September 2017. Pic: Reuters
Its star, Invoice Cosby, performed a physician named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner within the function of Theo, his solely son.
The NBC sitcom was the most well-liked present in America for a lot of its run between 1984 and 1992.
Warner performed the function for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, successful an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.
For a lot of, the lasting picture of the character, and of Warner, is of him carrying a badly-botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, performed by Lisa Bonet.
Warner ‘proud’ of present regardless of Cosby claims
The legacy of The Cosby Present has been tarnished after Cosby was jailed in 2018 following a conviction for sexual assault.
He was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned.
Dozens of ladies had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape earlier than the trial.
Warner, again centre, with a few of the solid of The Cosby Present. Pic: Getty
Following his launch from jail, Cosby was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman on the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was an adolescent.
Warner instructed the Related Press in 2015: “My greatest concern is in terms of photos of individuals of color on tv and movie… We have at all times had ‘The Cosby Present’ to carry up in opposition to that. And the truth that we now not have that, that is the factor that saddens me essentially the most as a result of in just a few generations the Huxtables may have been only a fairy story.”
In 2023, Warner instructed Folks in an interview: “I do know I can converse for all of the solid after I say The Cosby Present is one thing that we’re all nonetheless very pleased with.”
Learn extra leisure information:
Danny Dyer on Mr Big Stuff
Scuffle breaks out on Royal Opera House on stage
Warner (left) on stage with Stevie Marvel and Invoice Cosby at an awards present in 2011. Pic: AP
Warner wins a Grammy
Following his profession on The Cosby Present, Warner later appeared on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, co-starring with comic Eddie Griffin within the collection on the UPN community from 1996 to 2000.
Within the 2010s he starred reverse Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for 2 seasons on the BET sitcom Learn Between The Strains.
He additionally had a task as OJ Simpson’s good friend Al Cowlings in American Crime Story and was a collection common on Fox’s The Resident.
Movies he has appeared in embrace the 2008 rom-com Idiot’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
A poet and a musician, Warner received a Grammy for greatest conventional R&B efficiency for the track Jesus Youngsters with Robert Glasper and Lalah Hathaway. He was additionally nominated for greatest spoken phrase poetry album for Hiding In Plain View.
Warner was married with a daughter, however selected to not publicly disclose their names.
