Ashford and Simpson, Lou Gossett Jr.and Colette Phillips on The Red Carpet at The Opening Gala of Tyler Perry's new Motion Picture & Television Studio on October 4, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images North America)

Mr. Gossett and publicist Colette Phillips helped friend and film-maker Tyler Perry celebrate a historical and momentous event - the opening of his new movie and TV studio complex in Atlanta, Georgia.  Its opening marks the first state of the art Black owned movie studio in the United States.

Perry says he will film House of Payne at the facility as well as his other ongoing TV show, Meet The Browns.  With a string of cinema successes to his credit, Perry has stated that he will also use the complex for his film projects.

The event was star studded with guests such as Oprah, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee; Cecily Tyson, Danny Glover; Will Smith, Patti La Belle, Gladys Knight, John Legend, Andrew Young, Hank Aaron, and a host of other celebrities.  R&B singer Mary J Blige performed at the event.

The weekend celebration culminated with a Gospel brunch at Perry’s home, a property which is rich in its own history.  The home was once owned by a southern segregationist who sued to revoke the sale of the property once he found out that it had been purchased by a Black man.

Congratulations Tyler!

Academy Award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. (left) joined Colette Phillips, president and CEO of Colette Phillips Communications (center) and Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney. Photo Courtesy Don West

From the Malibu Times:

Academy award winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. is seen here with Boston City Council President Maureen Feeney (far right) and his publicist Colette Phillips, president and CEO of Colette Phillips Communications Inc. Gossett, a Malibu resident, was the guest of honor at Get Konnected, a monthly multicultural professional and social networking event founded by Phillips.

From Bay State Banner:

With an acting career spanning over five decades in film, television and theater, Gossett is perhaps best known for his roles as Fiddler in the groundbreaking television miniseries “Roots” and as Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in the 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman.” The former earned him an Emmy; the latter, an Oscar.

In 2006, Gossett decided to focus his energies on fighting social ills when he founded The Eracism Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to create a “conscious offensive against racism, violence and ignorance.” Toward that end, the foundation has created programs focused on youth mentoring, anti-gang violence initiatives and diversity sensitivity training sessions known as “Shamba Centers.”

While the Eracism organization’s work is part of the solution, Gossett said, there is much more work to be done — and he thinks the classroom is a good place to start.

The Boston Globe caught up with Mr. Gossett and Ms. Phillips prior to the Get Konnected! multicultural social networking event in Boston founded by Ms. Phillips.  The article covers some personal details as well as several upcoming events on Mr. Gossett’s calendar.  Catch the full scoop here.

Mr. Gossett showing his constant heart for children.

From USA Today:

Film star Louis Gossett Jr poses with a child at the Abandoned baby Centre in Dagoretti, Nairobi, August 13, 2008. Gossett and five other celebrities are in the country to shoot a primetime network television special documentary titled “Eye on Kenya” in association with Feed the Children that will look at the wonders of Kenya through the eyes of celebrities as they visit the country.

Mr. Gossett was chosen to both partake in and promote HBO’s special The Black List.

From HBO’s website:

Part of a multimedia initiative, The Black List: Volume One is the brainchild of renowned portrait photographer/filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and acclaimed NPR radio host, journalist and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, with Greenfield-Sanders directing and Mitchell conducting the interviews. Mitchell, by design, is never seen on camera or heard, a strategy that allows the subjects’ own voices to remain the focus. The actual title of the film itself, The Black List, was first conceived by Mitchell as an answer to the persistent taint that western culture has applied to the word “black.”

…

The Black List: Volume One made its world premiere at 2008’s Sundance Film Festival; Variety called it “an impeccably mounted survey of voices from across the spectrum of African-American accomplishment…a rich and revealing work of portraiture.”

You can find out more about the documentary series by visiting the HBO Website.

Also, to give a voice to someone in your life, visit WhosOnYourBlackList.com.

Watch the promotional video for more information:

Sewee Entertainment

Academy Award Winning Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. to host

“Raising the Roof!” - MLK Tribute Concert for Jan/Feb 2009

Sewee Entertainment announced today that Academy Award Winning Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. will host of “Raising the Roof!” - a one-hour televised Tribute Concert honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mr. Gossett, Jr., is perhaps best known for his performance in the ground breaking 1977 television series  “Roots” for which he won an Emmy and his Oscar winning performance as the hard charging drill sergeant in the movie, “An Officer and a Gentleman.”  An enduring presence for more than five decades, Mr Gossett ranks as one of the most respected and beloved actors of stage, screen, and television.   In addition to his Oscar he is the recipient of multiple Golden Globes and People’s Choice Awards

His performances have connected him with fans on a global scale.  In 2006 he founded the Eracism Foundation, which works towards developing and producing entertainment that brings awareness and education to issues such as racism, ignorance and societal apathy.

“Raising the Roof” is produced through a partnership involving The Boston Children’s Chorus and WCVB-TV, the highly respected Hearst-Argyle TV station in Boston.  Past hosts of “Raising the Roof” have included “Good Morning America” Anchor Robin Roberts as well as ABC News Anchor/Correspondents Deborah Roberts and Ron Claiborne.

The event is fittingly filmed before a live audience at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.  It was on the steps of that building that a young woman named Coretta Scott met an aspiring Boston University doctoral candidate named Martin Luther King, Jr.

The uplifting and energized one-hour concert will be taped before a live audience and will feature the talented singers of the Boston Children’s Chorus along with the Young Peoples Chorus of New York City. The event also offers a series of multi-cultural reflections exploring the on-going impact of Dr. King.

WCVB-TV will handle production. Executive Producer Elizabeth Cheng and Producer Stella Gould created the National Primetime Emmy-nominated Boston Pops concert, “Pops Goes the Fourth,” which aired on the Arts and Entertainment Network for ten years.  Cheng has also executive produced numerous specials for A&E and the History Channel.

Sewee Entertainment will handle Ad Sales & Syndication.

“Raising the Roof” is being offered to broadcast TV stations on barter terms 6/6.  The special is available live on the MLK holiday, January 19^th at 7-8 PM, or thereafter until Feb 28,  2009.

For interviews with Mr. Gossett contact:  Colette Phillips @ Colette Phillips Communications, Inc  617.357-5777 ext 203

For information related to the Ad sales and Syndication Contact:  Sewee Entertainment - Tim Voit - 843-224-3444

Mr. Gossett was quoted in a recent article by the Associated Press, which has been picked up by a number of news venues.  The full text of the article can be read here or here.

Excerpt:

Hollywood is “sensitive” to issues of race and the industry is moving in the right direction, says Louis Gossett Jr., an Oscar-winning actor who is black. However, “the people who still call the shots … are of one race.”

Film projects on racial themes with black leading actors get less financing and distribution, he says. “In fact, my best Caucasian friend often says, ‘I’ll handle this so we can all be equal.’ Now, we should probably handle these things together.”

Forty years after the death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., CNN took an unprecendented look at the state of black America in “CNN Presents: Black in America. The success, struggle, pain and pride.”

Anderson Cooper’s 360 Blog has devoted several days to smart insight and commentary related to the special.

Mr. Gossett was featured on the Blog today, sharing his insight and his constant heart for helping children.

The planet is dying or dramatically changing. Hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis are taking their toll on humanity. We need to drop everything and pay attention to the planet. This should be our number one agenda - not issues like racism or our ethnic differences. It’s like we are all in a plane at 30 thousand feet plummeting to the ground, and the people inside are fighting over who will be in first class.

Perhaps we need to go back to where we started. The most important commodity on the planet is not oil, or military might or other riches; on the contrary our single most important commodity is our children.

What we plant in them is how the future will go. So it becomes important that we only plant the positive and not the negative. Racism is the negative. One thing that I tell all children is to repeat this affirmation three times: “No such thing is impossible.”

The family institution and our neighborhood units no longer seem to exist. We need to find a way to return to that … in a place not unlike a synagogue or a temple or a church. We need a place where our children learn to respect themselves, the opposite sex, their elders, their spirituality, and their physical fitness.

A large percentage of them would come out ladies and gentlemen. Much more prepared to learn in school and be responsible for their communities.

If everybody wants things to get better, this might be a good idea.

As seen on AHN News.

Jan Westmark - Celebrity News Service

Washington, D.C. (CNS) - Actor Lou Gossett Jr. will be the featured guest speaker at Ohev Sholom, The National Synagogue in Washington D.C. on Saturday morning. An Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy award winning actor, Gossett has been an enduring public presence for more than five decades and ranks as one of the most respected actors of stage, screen, and television.

It is believed that Gossett’s appearance at The National Synagogue marks the first time an African American will deliver a Shabbat morning sermon to members of the historic synagogue in its 122 year history. Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, of the National Synagogue, believes there is even more to the story, however.

Rabbi Herzfeld told Celebrity News Service, “Lou Gossett is a deeply spiritual man and at this stage of his life he wants to make a positive difference in the world. He has been given many benefits from God and he wants to share those benefits.”

Gossett agreed with Rabbi and said, “To him whom much is given, much is expected. I have been blessed that through my work I have a recognizable persona and I can use the power of that persona for a greater good by shining the spotlight on issues of importance. I see myself as a vessel that God uses to do the work I am on the planet to do.”

In 2006, Gossett launched The Eracism Foundation, with the aim of developing and producing entertainment that brings awareness and education to issues such as racism, ignorance and societal apathy. “Part of the thing that keeps us apart is our differences,” Gossett said. “Instead of seeing strength and power in celebrating those differences, we fight over them.”

In his address at The National Synagogue, Gossett will share his work with Holocaust survivors and the African-American battalion that liberated them, as well as talk about how his Eracism Foundation has been shaped by his exposure to Judaism.

Through his Eracism Foundation, Gossett hopes to work with children of all races by helping to instill in them the values he grew up with as a boy in Coney Island, New York, values such as tolerance, discipline, self-respect, civility, deference to your elders and treating women respectfully. He believes that we must start with the children. “Children are our most precious resources and we must work as hard as we can to protect and preserve their future,” says Gossett.

Known for his role in the landmark 1977 miniseries “Roots,” Gossett will speak at the National Synagogue at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 23.