Chadwick Boseman, star of the ground-breaking superhero movie "Black Panther," has died after a private four-year battle with colon cancer, his public
Chadwick Boseman, star of the ground-breaking superhero movie “Black Panther,” has died after a private four-year battle with colon cancer, his publicist, Nicki Fioravante said.
Boseman, 43, never publicly discussed his condition and continued to work on major Hollywood films during and between “countless” operations and chemotherapy, his family said in a statement.
“It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in ‘Black Panther. A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From ‘Marshall’ to ‘Da 5 Bloods,’ August Wilson’s ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther, the statement said.
He died in his home with his wife and family by his side.
“Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV,” they wrote.
Born in Anderson, South Carolina, Boseman graduated from Howard University in 2000. He was just stepping into the prime of his career: After starting out on TV shows like “Lincoln Heights” and “Persons Unknown,” Boseman had his breakthrough playing Robinson in 2013’s “42” and then a year later inhabited the colorful wardrobe of R&B superstar Brown in “Get on Up.”
Chadwick Boseman found great success playing these iconic roles – he also portrayed Thurgood Marshall as a young lawyer, before his Supreme Court Days, in 2017’s “Marshall.” But he also made the most of his smaller parts as well: In 2014, Boseman co-starred with Kevin Costner as a headstrong but good-hearted college superstar wanting to make it to the NFL to take care of his nephews in the football dramedy “Draft Day.”
It was 2016, though, that started him on the road to superstardom with a cameo as T’Challa, a young Wakandan prince (later king) and heroic warrior, in Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War.” Two years later, he headlined the blockbuster “Black Panther,” a movie that caused a movement throughout the world as Black men and women, boys and girls, took to heart its hero and the cross-armed “Wakanda Forever” salute.
Boseman reprised his popular role two more times, in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” The character was last seen standing silently dressed in a black suit at Tony Stark’s funeral in last year’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
