Lou Myers, Mr. Gaines on ‘A Different World,’ dies
Associated Press
CHARLESTON, W.Va— Actor Lou Myers, best known for his role as ornery restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series "A Different World," has died.
Tonia McDonald of Myers' nonprofit, Global Business Incubation Inc., said Myers died Tuesday night at Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia. She said he was 76. McDonald said Wednesday that Myers had been in and out of the hospital since before Christmas and collapsed recently. An autopsy was planned.
A native of Chesapeake, W.Va., Myers had returned to the state and lived in the Charleston area.
His TV credits included "NYPD Blue," ''E.R.," ''The Cosby Show," ''Touched by an Angel," and more. He also appeared in a number of films, including "Tin Cup," ''How Stella Got Her Groove Back," ''Wedding Planner" and more.
"A Different World" ran from 1987-93 and originally starred Lisa Bonet from "Cosby" fame. Myers said he owed his introduction to Hollywood to Bill Cosby.
Myers also appeared on Broadway including "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" African American Style and "Oprah Winfrey's The Color Purple."
In 2005, the Appalachian Education Initiative listed Myers as one of 50 "Outstanding Creative Artists" from the state of West Virginia and featured him in their coffee table book Art & Soul.
He began singing jazz and blues with the touring company of "Negro Music in Vogue," according to a biography provided by McDonald.
His Cabaret show has been acclaimed in Berlin, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York, as well as Los Angeles at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Myers was chairman of Global Business Incubation that helps urban small businesses and chairman of the Lou Myers Scenario Motion Picture Institute/Theatre.
He won a NAACP "Best Actor" award for playing the Stool Pigeon in "King Hedley II," a play by August Wilson.
+ Top Story
Zoe Saldana has played an alien and a future space traveler — but taking on the role of an actual famous person proved even harder. The 34-year-old star of Avatar and Star Trek plays pianist, singer and activist Nina Simone in the forthcoming biopic Nina.
Mel Brooks, director, producer, writer and actor, is in an elite group as one of the few entertainers to earn all four major entertainment prizes – the Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar. His career began in television writing for Your Show of Shows and...
Besides detailing the ups-and-downs of the turbulent, 2011 tennis season, this riveting and revealing documentary treats the audience to an intimate look at the close-knit sisters with the help of home movies from their adolescence.
His rise to success with “The Office” and his stand-up prowess quickly brought him to the attention of comedy maven Judd Apatow. Robinson made audiences question their notions of vanity, playing the sensitive bouncer in Knocked Up. He then kept audiences glued to their seats as...
A 17-year-old from Pittsburgh has won the fifth annual August Wilson Monologue Competition, performing a section of the playwright’s “King Hedley II” with powerful skill. Tambi Gxuluwe, who attends West Mifflin Area High School, took the first place trophy Monday night...
Collected and curated by Penn professor and PBS "History Detectives" host Tukufu Zuberi, forms the basis of a provocative new exhibition at the Penn Museum: Black Bodies in Propaganda: The Art of the War Poster, opening at 1:00 pm on June 2, 2013, and running through March 2, 2014.
“Twenty Feet from Stardom” - featuring Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Tata Vega, Patti Austin among others - spotlights the untold true stories of the backup singers to some of the greatest musical legends of our era. And, because their stories begin most often in church...
In the upcoming science fiction film After Earth, our home planet goes through some serious changes over the next 1,000 years. So it’s fitting that the film’s stars, actor Will Smith and his son Jaden, would take some time to envision what the future of Earth might entail.