Actor and director Malcolm-Jamal Warner, greatest recognized for his function on “The Cosby Present,” has died in an unintentional drowning in Costa Rica, officers there mentioned. He was 54.
Warner drowned Sunday afternoon at a seashore in Cocles de Limón on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, the nation’s Judicial Investigation Division mentioned. He gave the impression to be pulled out to sea by a present.
Warner was assisted by individuals who have been on the seashore, however he was declared lifeless by the employees of the Costa Rican Purple Cross, the division mentioned.
In a press release Monday, the Costa Rican Purple Cross mentioned it was alerted to a water accident on Sunday at 2:10 p.m. native time, and it dispatched three ambulances.
Two grownup males have been handled on website. One was transferred to a neighborhood clinic in essential situation, the Costa Rican Purple Cross mentioned. They tried to resuscitate the opposite man, however he did not present important indicators and was declared lifeless. The Costa Rican Purple Cross did not present an replace on the person transferred to a neighborhood clinic.
Warner starred as Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Present” from 1984 to 1992. His efficiency earned him an Emmy nomination for excellent supporting actor in a comedy collection in 1986.
NBCU Photograph Financial institution/NBCUniversal through Getty Pictures through Getty Pictures
In 2023, Warner informed CBS Pittsburgh that being a part of “The Cosby Present” was an “superior” expertise.
“That present had such an influence on the tradition right here in America but additionally a worldwide influence on how Black individuals noticed ourselves globally and the way the remainder of the world noticed us,” he mentioned. “So I am proud to have been a part of that legacy and it has been an important trip ever since.”
Warner mentioned in a 2015 interview with The Related Press that he was saddened that the present’s legacy was “tarnished” by “Cosby Present” patriarch Invoice Cosby, who was accused of sexual assault by a number of ladies. Cosby’s conviction in a Pennsylvania case was later overturned.
Warner went on to star in different TV reveals, together with “Malcolm & Eddie” (1996-2000), “Reed Between the Traces” (2011-2015) and “The Resident” (2018-2023). He additionally voiced The Producer on “The Magic Faculty Bus” (1994-1997). He made his characteristic movie debut in “Drop Zone” in 1994.
Warner additionally directed episodes of a number of TV reveals, together with “The Cosby Present,” “All That,” “Keenan & Kel” and “The Recent Prince of Bel-Air,” in accordance with his biography on his web site.
Most not too long ago, he appeared in a number of episodes of “Alert: Lacking Individuals Unit” and was internet hosting the podcast “Not All Hood,” wanting on the completely different experiences of Black People.
Warner was additionally a poet and a musician. He received a Grammy for greatest conventional R&B efficiency in 2015 for his half in a canopy of Stevie Surprise’s “Jesus Kids of America.”
Derek White / Getty Pictures 
Fellow poet and writer Kevin Powell, who was a good friend of Warner’s, described him as a loyal husband and father who was humble, type and supportive of different individuals.
“You’d have by no means recognized he was a serious youngster star,” Powell mentioned in an interview Monday with CBS Information. “He was by no means somebody who was into the celeb of it. He knew what he was. He knew, you already know, that he was America’s son. He actually was America’s son as the one male youngster on that historic present, ‘The Cosby Present.'”
Powell mentioned he was struck by the emotional reactions from followers on social media. “It is somebody you got here of age with,” he mentioned of Warner.
Powell recalled publishing a poem Warner wrote in a particular problem of the journal “African Voices” for the fiftieth anniversary of hip-hop in 2023.
Warner was a lifelong hip-hop fan, Powell mentioned, however he additionally was “involved about a whole lot of the photographs that have been being put on the market.”
“In order that grew to become sort of his factor in the previous few years, like how are we representing ourselves as a group, as a individuals, with the artwork that we’re creating?” he mentioned. “That sticks with me as a result of he was somebody who understood he had an enormous platform. He had a well-known identify and folks would concentrate if he mentioned sure issues. … That is who Malcolm-Jamal was.”
The information of Warner’s loss of life was “devastating,” a spokesperson for Invoice Cosby mentioned. The spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, mentioned Cosby in contrast it to studying of the loss of life of his son Ennis, who was shot and killed in a theft in 1997. “It felt the identical means,” Wyatt mentioned.
