Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show character Theo, has drowned in Costa Rica, according to authorities.
The Judicial Investigation Department in Costa Rica said the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a beach on the country’s Caribbean coast.
It is understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a current.
“He was rescued by people on the beach,” according to the department’s early report, but emergency workers from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without any signs of life and he was taken to the morgue.
Warner was on holiday with his family at the time, according to US celebrity news site People.
The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC in the US and is regarded as a groundbreaking show for its portrayal of a successful black middle-class family. It was also shown on Channel 4 in the UK at around the same time.
Its star, Bill Cosby, played a doctor named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner in the role of Theo, his only son.
The NBC sitcom was the most popular show in America for much of its run between 1984 and 1992.
Warner played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.
For many, the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly-botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner around 1986. Credit: AP/Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch /IPX
Warner ‘proud’ of show despite Cosby claims
The legacy of The Cosby Show has been tarnished after Cosby was jailed in 2018 following a conviction for sexual assault.
He was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned.
Dozens of women had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape before the trial.
Warner, back centre, with the rest of the cast of The Cosby Show. Pic: Getty
Following his release from prison, Cosby was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.
Warner told the Associated Press in 2015: “My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of colour on television and film… We’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”
In 2023, Warner told People in an interview: “I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of.”
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner, left, on stage with singer Stevie Wonder, centre, and Bill Cosby, at awards show in 2011. Pic: AP
Warner wins a Grammy
Following his career on The Cosby Show, Warner later appeared on the sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie”, co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the UPN network from 1996 to 2000.
In the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom “Read Between The Lines”.
He also had a role as OJ Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings on “American Crime Story” and was a series regular on Fox’s “The Resident”.
His film roles include the 2008 rom-com “Fool’s Gold” with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.
A poet and a musician, Warner was a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance, and was nominated for best spoken word poetry album for “Hiding in Plain View”.
Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names.