The world wasn’t ready for the shock of hearing that Black Panther star, Chadwick Boseman, had died. He was only 43. Now, exactly two years after his death, we continue to celebrate without him being here.
Boseman got a chance to not only play iconic characters in movies, he also was able to work with some of the greatest actors alive. From Denzel Washington, to Forest Whitaker and more–you name it, Boseman has worked with them in one way or another.
Celebrated actress Phylicia Rashad referred to Boseman as “gentle” in an interview with ET in October.
“I remember his smile and his gentle way,” she said. “I remember his unending curiosity and his love of study, studying many things all of the time. When I look back on his body of film work, and I have been able to see quite a bit of it in these last few weeks, it never ceases to amaze me how very different he is in each and every role. And the differences are subtle. They are not sweet rolled, they are not manipulated, they are not contrived. He presents a real person and persona in every character he plays.”
She later recalled how happy he was about helping others.
“When he came to New York, after graduating from Howard University, one day he called me all excited, ‘Oh, Ms. Rashad, you will never guess what I am doing,'” she recalled, noting that she initially thought he’d landed a big Broadway gig. “You know what he was doing? He was working with young people at the library and he was excited about it. That’s who Chadwick was.”
Before he was cast as the Marvel Studios superhero, Boseman’s career first exploded with his portrayals of Black American icons Jackie Robinson in 2013 in “42” and James Brown in 2014 in “Get on Up.” Boseman also appeared in