Andre Braugher, who has died age 61, was a man blessed with incredible gravitas. Born in Chicago’s West Side to a blue collar family, his early talent was promising enough to earn him a scholarship to study theatre at Stanford, after which he trained at Juilliard.
Although he performed Shakespeare on stage, winning an Obie award for his Henry V in the mid-90s, Braugher quickly found his niche onscreen, using the weight of his charisma to play figures of authority. His first role was on TV, as a detective in five separate Kojak television movies, setting a pattern that would last the rest of his career.
