Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies at 54
“The Cosby Show” alum Malcolm-Jamal Warner has died at the age of 54-years-old. Details surrounding the circumstances of his death have not been released by officials at this time.
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department said Monday that Warner drowned Sunday afternoon on a beach on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. He was swimming at Playa Cocles in Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean.
Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names. Warner’s representatives declined immediate comment.
What they’re saying:
“He was rescued by people on the beach,” the department’s initial report said, but first responders from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without vital signs and he was taken to the morgue.
The backstory:
Warner created many TV moments etched in the memories of Generation X children and their parents, including a pilot-episode argument with Bill Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable about money and an ear piercing he tries to hide from his dad. His Theo was the only son among four daughters in the household of Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad’s Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom, and he would be one of the prime representations of American teenage boyhood on a show that was the most popular in America for much of its run from 1984 to 1992.
He played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986. For many the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly botched mock designer shirt sewed by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet. The “Gordon Gartrell” shirt later became a memeable image. Anthony Mackie wore one on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon and the profile picture on Warner’s Instagram shows a toddler sporting one.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 11: Malcolm-Jamal Warner visits SiriusXM Studios on June 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)
Like the rest of the show’s cast, Warner had to contend with the sexual assault allegations against its titular star, whose conviction in a Pennsylvania court was later overturned.
Warner told The Associated Press in 2015 that the show’s legacy was “tarnished.”
“My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of color on television and film,” Warner said. “We’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”
Representatives for Cosby declined immediate comment.
Warner later appeared on the sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie,” co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the defunct UPN network from 1996 to 2000. And in the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom “Read Between The Lines.” He also had a role as O.J. Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings on “American Crime Story” and was a series regular on Fox’s “The Resident.”
His film roles include the 2008 rom-com “Fool’s Gold” with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. A poet and a musician, Warner was a Grammy winner, for best traditional R&B performance, and was nominated for best spoken word poetry album for “Hiding in Plain View.”
Life and legacy of Malcolm Jamal-Warner
Dig deeper:
Warner was born in 1970 in Jersey City, New Jersey. His mother, Pamela Warner, reportedly named him after Malcolm X and jazz pianist Jamal. She served as his manager when he began pursuing acting at age 9.
In the early 1980s, he made guest appearances on the TV shows “Matt Houston” — his first credit — and “Fame.”
Warner was 13 when he landed the role of Theo in an audition after a broad search for the right child actor.
New details: Malcolm-Jamal Warner’ death
“The Cosby Show” star Malcom-Jamal Warner has died. Warner drowned in Costa Rica. He was 54. Warner had been swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when a current pulled him into deeper waters, Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department claimed. LiveNOW’s Mike Pache spoke about Warner’s death and his career with TMZ’s Branson Quirke.
Cosby was a major star at the time, and the show was certain to be widely seen, but few could’ve predicted the huge, yearslong phenomenon it would become.
He had been married for about 10 years with a daughter about 5 years old, but chose to not publicly disclose their names. Warner’s representatives declined immediate comment on his death.
His final credits came in TV guest roles, including appearances on “The Wonder Years,” “Grown-ish,” and “9-1-1,” where he had a four-episode arc last year.
“I grew up with a maniacal obsession with not wanting to be one of those ‘where are they now kids,’” Warner told the AP in 2015. “I feel very blessed to be able to have all of these avenues of expression … to be where I am now and finally at a place where I can let go of that worry about having a life after ‘Cosby.’”