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" When we look at each other, we're the same family. You don't have to see black or Latino - we're one family. That's America. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Black
You
See
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" Sometimes I believe that the reason I have been able to do such exemplary work on the screen is because this is the only place I can be free, neither censured nor judged. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Work
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" The two lines from 'Roots' that stick out to me are, 'You no more in Africa. You in America now,' and what I said after Kunta escaped: 'What is it like to be free, Kunta? It must be something.' "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
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" I'm cancer-free. And I'm on antioxidants and acupuncture and a different diet. And I have a different outlook on life. I don't have resentment any more. It's wonderful. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
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" One family, one nation, indivisible. That mentality is essential for our salvation. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Mentality
Nation
Salvation
" One of the most fascinating projects I worked on right after 'Officer' was 'Sadat,' a role for which Anwar Sadat's widow, Jehan, personally chose me. Although this TV miniseries won me nominations for the Golden Globe and an Emmy, strangely, it was boycotted in the Middle East. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Golden
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" I had an Oscar, an Emmy, and yet I had this big hole in my soul. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Oscar
Hole
My Soul
" There are beautiful words in the Bible and in our pledges and the Declaration of Independence. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Words
Beautiful
Bible
" It's presumptuous for us to think we are the only beings in the cosmos. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Presumptuous
Think
Us
" I didn't know anything about acting, I didn't know anything about theater, but I was just an exceptional student at high school. I wanted to play ball; I'm going after a basketball scholarship and be a doctor. I got injured and my marks began to drop. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
High School
Basketball
Doctor
" My father was adopted. He grew up in the Italian household. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Italian
Up
Adopted
" George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with those 'Oceans' films they do, they get to work together, make a whole lot of money, and make a major film statement. Imagine if once a year, myself, Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, we did some relevant film together to make a statement. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Money
Myself
Together
" I am so grateful that the public has given me this gift. They look at me as a person - not as a race or a color. The word for it is freedom - to be accepted as me. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Color
Freedom
Gift
" I grew up with all my cousins. The men worked, and the older women raised us - my mother, my aunt, my grandmother. My great-grandmother was the matriarch, and sometimes there were 30 of us. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Women
Mother
Sometimes
" When '12 Years a Slave' got that much attention, everyone started to copy that. That story has to be told, but there are a lot more stories to be told than slavery. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Copy
Attention
Story
" We started the family Bible after slavery was abolished. My great-grandmother remembered the Bible being started, which meant that she was a slave as a young girl. When she died, the Bible was at least 105 years old, so she must have been nearly 115 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, died at 97, and her husband at 98. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Girl
Slavery
Bible
" I can do more than anyone suspects. I pride myself on my versatility. It took 32 years of difficult parts, second leads, villains and juveniles. The Oscar changed the quality of the roles I was being offered. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Myself
Pride
Difficult
" I was president of the schools in junior high and high school, got a scholarship to New York University, played a little basketball, and was a celebrity. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
School
Celebrity
High School
" Some Marine units actually use 'An Officer and a Gentleman' in their training programs. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Training
Use
Some
" When I'm offered a role, I look at what I think I can do with it. I look to see if I can project myself into it. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Look
I Can
Myself
" You have a bout with death, things that touch your mortality, when that happens, all that bling-bling gets thrown away because all you've got is you and God. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Touch
You
Got
" I believe the gift of acting is a gift from God, my oath to God, and I want to make sure on a daily basis that it is honed and deeply spiritual... I want to believe that the audience believes that my acting comes from this special place. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Spiritual
Believe
Daily
" Never made a million dollars from any of my 78 movies. People thought I had this fortune, which I never had. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Thought
Fortune
Movies
" We need to do whatever it takes to get our children together and pay attention to them, because that's our future. What's in the hearts and minds of our children is what's in our future. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Together
Future
Children
" I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Way
Money
White
" I was invited to play with the New York Knicks. I was never drafted, but I was invited to the rookie camp. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Never
New
New York
" We are born with freedom and hope, but often that's dashed because of our color. But in school, I'd already been taught that no one could tell me that you can't do something because you're black. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Me
Hope
Freedom
" The only time I was really free was when the director said 'Action' in front of a camera or on the stage, and that's when I flew. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Camera
Time
Action
" One of my best friends while shooting 'Roots' was Vic Morrow, the guy that whips Kunta. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Best
Roots
Friends
" Working on the ABC movie 'Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige,'' which we filmed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was a special pleasure, particularly because I'd played baseball in high school. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Baseball
School
Story
" I was at Woodstock. In the mud. "
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Mud
Woodstock