World leaders, sportsmen, and celebrities have continued to extol the virtues of late Hollywood actor, Chadwick Boseman, whose movie, Black Panther, celebrated African-American pioneers and culture.
They said that the Boseman, who passed on at 43 years after a four-year battle with colon cancer, works would in many years to come continuously inspire generations to pursue their dream believe that it is achievable.
Boseman, a native of South Carolina who began his screen career in episodes of television dramas, was confirmed dead through a statement on his official social media accounts that further stated that he passed on yesterday at his home in Los Angeles, United States, with his wife and family at his side.
The statement said that Boseman was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2016, an illness that progressed ultimately to stage 4 and went publicly undisclosed until his death, though he had grown noticeably thin in recent public appearances and social media posts.
Minutes after the announcement, tributes, and expressions of shock poured in from world leaders, sportsmen, and women, as well as celebrities who described his death as a rude shock.
Commiserating with the family, US presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who could not hold back his grief, further described him as a superhero.
“The true power of Chadwick Boseman was bigger than anything we saw on screen. From the Black Panther to Jackie Robinson, he inspired generations and showed them they can be anything they want, even superheroes. Jill and I are praying for his loved ones at this difficult time”.
Also, fellow Hollywood figures, including Marvel film, co-stars Mark Ruffalo (the Incredible Hulk) and Chris Evans (Captain America), have expressed their grieves over the actor’s death.
The daughter of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King, in a statement on his official social media handle, said: “We never know what people are enduring. Humans … we are wonders. Thank you, Chadwick, for gifting us with your greatness in the midst of a painful struggle”.
Boseman, it would be recalled, started screen career in episodes of television dramas such as “Third Watch,” “Law & Order” and “ER,” passed away at his home, with his wife and family at his side, the statement on Twitter and Facebook said. It did not specify when he died. He resided in Los Angeles.
The deceased made his feature film debut with a small part in the 2008 sports biopic “The Express,” a drama based on the life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first Black player to win the Heisman trophy.
He went on to star as a number of other real-life characters famed for breaking America’s racial barriers, including soul singer James Brown in “Get on Up,” Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall,” and baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson in “42.”
But the actor’s most memorable role was his performance as T’Challa, king of the fictional, futuristic African kingdom of Wakanda and the crime fighter known as Black Panther, in the first major studio superhero movie featuring a predominantly African-American cast.
Boseman originated the Black Panther film role two years earlier in Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” and reprised the part twice more in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
In June, Boseman joined more than 300 Black actors and filmmakers who signed an open letter urging Hollywood to steer away from entertainment glorifying police brutality and corruption and to invest in anti-racist content.
The letter was written in the midst of cultural and political reckoning with systematic racism in the United States in the wake of the George Floyd death in Minneapolis.
