Malcolm-Jamal Warner was ‘rescued by bystanders,' declared ‘lifeless' after being pulled from water
'The Cosby Show' actor died on Sunday, July 20, at age 54, while on vacation in Costa Rica with his family.
Costa Rican National Police told The Post that Warner was pulled from the water by people in the area and taken to shore, where they desperately attempted to save his life.
12 Malcolm-Jamal Warner died on Sunday by accidentally drowning.
Getty Images for SCAD aTVfest 2020
New details have now emerged about Warner's final moments, with Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) sharing additional information about their efforts.
'The victim appears to have entered the sea and was apparently swept away by a current. The man was rescued by bystanders and taken to shore, where he received treatment from the Costa Rican Red Cross. However, he was declared lifeless at the scene,' the OIJ confirmed to People.
The actor's body was taken to the morgue at San Joaquin de Flores for an autopsy, with his cause of death listed as asphyxiation by 'submersion,' the Costa Rican National Police shared on Monday, July 21.
Warner played the beloved character Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable, the son of Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, in 'The Cosby Show' from 1984 to 1992.
The role landed him an 1986 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
12 He starred as Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable, the son of Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable, in 'The Cosby Show' from 1984 to 1992.
Corbis via Getty Images
12 The role earned him an Emmy nomination in 1986.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Warner was joined on the screen by the rest of his Huxtable TV family, which included Phylicia Rashad (Clair), Sabrina Le Beauf (Sondra), Lisa Bonet (Denise), Tempestt Bledsoe (Vanessa) and Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy).
The star didn't audition for the role of Theo until the final day of the comedy's nationwide search and was handpicked by Cosby himself, per Variety.
Warner spoke to The Post exclusively about 'The Cosby Show' legacy in April 2021, just two months before Cosby's sexual assault conviction was overturned.
12 Bystanders tried to save Warner's life by pulling him out of the water.
Getty Images
12 However, their efforts were too late.
Getty Images
12 Costa Rican National Police revealed his cause of death was asphyxiation by 'submersion.'
NBCUniversal via Getty Images
'I can understand why some people can't watch the show and enjoy it because of everything that's going on now,' Warner said.
He confessed that the lasting impression 'The Cosby Show' had in TV history was undeniable.
'But I think…there's a generation of young people who have pursued higher education or have started loving families because of the influence of that show. So it's kind of like, you can't discount its impact on television culture and American culture,' he explained.
12 The actor was in Costa Rica with his family on vacation.
Courtesy Everett Collection
12 In 2021, Warner spoke to The Post exclusively about 'The Cosby Show' legacy.
NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Warner continued to act for decades to come after the series ended in 1992.
He went on to voice The Producer in 'The Magic School Bus' from 1994 to 1997. However, his next major role came in 1996 when he was cast as Malcolm McGee in 'Malcolm & Eddie.'
Warner starred in all 89 episodes alongside Eddie Griffin until the sitcom went off the air in 2000.
12 Following his stint on 'The Cosby Show,' Warner continued to act for decades to come.
Courtesy Everett Collection
Griffin, 57, broke his silence on Warner's death just hours after the news broke.
'My Heart is heavy today,' the actor captioned a photo of his former co-star on Instagram.
'For what the world lost was a Father a Son a Poet a Musician a Actor a Teacher a Writer a Director a Friend a Warrior that I had the pleasure of going to war with against the Hollywood machine and sometimes with each other because that's what Brothers do but the Love was and is always there🙏🏾 ,' he continued.
12 Several of his former co-stars have spoken out about his unexpected passing.
Getty Images
Griffin concluded, 'You've taught me so much and I thank you 🙏🏾 Rest Well My Big little Brother 🙏🏾❤️🙏🏾.'
Warner's 'Reed Between the Lines' co-star Tracee Ellis Ross also addressed his unexpected passing.
The pair played husband and wife on the short-lived sitcom, which only saw two seasons between 2011 and 2015.
12 Malcolm-Jamal Warner also starred on 'The Resident' as Dr. AJ Austin.
'I love you, Malcolm. First I met you as Theo with the rest of the world then you were my first TV husband. My heart is so so sad,' Ross shared.
'What an actor and friend you were: warm, gentle, present, kind, thoughtful, deep, funny, elegant. You made the world a brighter place,' she wrote. 'Sending so much love to your family. I'm so sorry for this unimaginable loss.'
In 2018, Warner joined 'The Resident' as Dr. AJ Austin, whom he played until 2023.
12 He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
Alberto E. Rodriguez
Some of his other credits included 'American Horror Story: Freak Show,' 'American Crime Story,' 'Suits,' '9-1-1,' 'Community,' 'Sons of Anarchy,' 'Here and Now' and 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.'
Warner is survived by his wife and daughter, whom he chose to keep private.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
10 minutes ago
- USA Today
Ozzy Osbourne was rock 'n' roll's 'Prince of Darkness.' How he got the twisted nickname
You can call him Ozzy, but to the world, Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne will always be the reigning Prince of Darkness. The heavy metal icon, best known for his eerie vocals and outlandish stage persona, died on Tuesday, July 22, according to a family statement shared with USA TODAY. He was 76. Osbourne's death comes just weeks after he reunited with Black Sabbath for a final show in England. Born John Michael Osbourne, the rock vocalist found early fame as the lead singer of Black Sabbath, an English heavy metal outfit that earned fan fervor — and industry criticism — for its dark sound and occult image. Ozzy Osbourne dies: Black Sabbath rocker was 76 As Black Sabbath began to make a name for itself with the group's musical unholiness, Osbourne was christened the band's Prince of Darkness. Why is Ozzy Osbourne called the 'Prince of Darkness'? Black Sabbath, which was formed in the late 1960s by Osbourne alongside guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler, previously went by the group names the Polka Tulk Blues Band and Earth. The band landed on Black Sabbath after members observed a screening of the 1963 Italian horror film of the same name across the street from their rehearsal room. Inspired by the horror genre, the group wrote the song "Black Sabbath," which became its new name, as well as the title track of its 1970 debut album. In a 2016 interview with NME, Osbourne said fans' reactions to the song's doom-metal sound helped spawn his dark nickname. "When we started gigging way back when, as soon as we started playing this song's opening chords, young girls in the audience would ... freak out," Osbourne said at the time. "They thought we were Satan's ... friends or something." Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies in drowning: 'The Cosby Show' star was 54 Osbourne reflected on the legacy of the macabre alias in a July 2013 interview with the Broward Palm Beach New Times. "It's a name. I didn't wake up one morning and go, 'You know what, I'm going to call myself…'" Osbourne told the outlet. "It started as a joke name, really. I'm OK with it, you know? You know, it's better than being called an a------." Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY
New York Post
10 minutes ago
- New York Post
A look back on Jack Black's wild Ozzy Osbourne tribute at 2024 Rock & Rock Hall of Fame induction: ‘The Jack Nicholson of rock'
No more tears when there's a moment like this to remember. Jack Black gave Ozzy Osbourne a raucous Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in October, just nine months before the legendary heavy metal rocker's death at age 76 on Tuesday. Osbourne said he was looking forward to Black's speech inducting him into the avowed institution as a solo artist, nearly 20 years after he was part of its Class of 2006 with his Black Sabbath bandmates, telling Rolling Stone he was 'always a big fan' of the actor. Advertisement 6 Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne at the metal icon's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in October 2024. Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 6 Ozzy Osbourne at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989. Getty Images 'Jack invited my family to the 'School of Rock' movie premiere in 2002,' Osbourne reflected. 'I've always been a big fan of his. Jack is one of the few great actors that is also a genuine rock & roller and not acting the part.' Advertisement And during last fall's highly anticipated moment, Black, 55, did not disappoint. Read Jack Black's wild Ozzy Osbourne tribute at 2024 Rock Hall induction 'Plumber, car horn tuner, slaughterhouse worker, the greatest frontman in the history of rock 'n' roll. Ozzy Osbourne. 'I remember the first time I heard of Ozzy. I was 13 years old, wandering around the record store. What should I get? Sticks? Journey? An older rock aficionado noticed my indecision, and he said, 'Stop f–king around, kid. This is the album you need to get, 'The Blizzard of Ozz.' Man, was he right! Thank you, nameless rock aficionado, wherever you are, you changed my life. I remember looking at that album cover at Ozzy's face before I even heard the music. I was transfixed. He looked so cool, that red-white suit with the white fringe on the sleeves, that crazy look in his eyes, the skull, the cross — Holy s–t. The whole thing just looked so badass. It was the most metal thing I'd ever seen, and I didn't even know what metal was. He was teaching me. I didn't realize I was entering a whole new world of heavy metal music. 6 Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne during the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Advertisement 6 Jack Black gave an induction speech that was fitting for the Prince of Darkness. Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 'I took that record home, and when the needle hit, the vinyl heaven opened up above me, I don't know. Then track two, 'Crazy Train.' There was an explosion of colors in my brain. 'Suicide Solution.' 'Mr. Crowley,' 'Revelation,' even 'Goodbye to Romance.' You best believe Ozzy could take it down a notch. He could do it all. 'Blizzard of Ozz' was the best thing I'd ever heard. A heavy metal masterpiece. That f–king sound was raw power. Randy f–king Rhodes, yeah, giving Eddie Van Halen a run for his money. And Ozzy, that voice, it could cut through a glass. Magic, joy, beauty. 'So then I went back into Ozzy's earlier albums, to Black Sabbath, and I was, like, unholy s–t. This motherf–ker invented heavy metal, along with Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and the immortal Tony Iommi, the darkest, heaviest s–t the world had ever heard. And through all that power, Ozzy's voice carving through the sonic blast furnace like an air raid siren, he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. Clear and crisp as a morning bell, and that smile, he looked so happy, he looked insane. So much charisma, the Jack Nicholson of rock. 6 The two artists share a heartfelt moment during the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Advertisement 'He invented a genre, had the greatest second-act comeback in rock history. Then what? How about 'No More Tears' in 1991 with the guitar god Zakk Wylde proving insane, lasting power, five times platinum. You heard me right! Quintuple platt. It was then that he decided to totally touch his tender side. So he called up Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead, naturally, and together with Zakk, they wrote, 'Mama, I'm Coming Home.' And thus, Ozzy took a little dip into the Top 40 just to prove he could. Then what? The Osbornes? Yeah, he teamed up with his family to create another genre, reality TV, maybe the most evil thing he ever did. But there is no denying it, his whole family were f–king hilarious and intensely entertaining. Another f–king massive bit. Then what? Oh, maybe just a little thing called Ozzfest, only the most successful heavy metal music festival of all time. Ozzy, stop creating incredibly successful, genre-defining, world-changing hits. It's too much success for one lifetime. 'And you know, a lot has been made of his evil alliance with the Dark Lord Satan. But in truth, Ozzy is a loving father, and husband, and friend, loyal to his family and friends to the end of the world and back. 6 Jack Black listens to Ozzy Osbourne speak. Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 'And now I stand here, just another nameless rock aficionado. And I'm talking to you, 13-year-olds watching the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. All five of you put down your phones unless you're watching on the phone, then put it closer to your face. Oh, man, rock aficionado is about to drop some truth. Sure, you could go stream Post Malone and Taylor Swift and get all the warm hugs you need for your broken hearts, or you can stay up all night and get your minds blown by Ozzy's entire catalog for the first time. 'Holy s–t, you kids are so f–king lucky.'
Los Angeles Times
10 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
'Washington Black' review: Hulu miniseries amplifies action from novel
Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan's 'Washington Black,' a prizewinning story of race, romance, friendship and identity set in the early 19th century, has been translated by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison into a Hulu miniseries. Unsurprisingly, it plays more like a miniseries than a novel, amplifying the action, the drama and the romance; beefing up lesser characters; drawing lines under, after all, valid points about prejudice, inequality and injustice; and dressing it up with Hollywood musical cues. Taking the show as a sometimes fantastic historical adventure, those aren't bad things, but, unlike the book, subtlety is not the series' strong suit. Written in the first person, the novel proceeds chronologically, while the series, which follows other, sometimes added characters into interpolated storylines, switches between 1830 — when our hero, George Washington Black, called Wash, is 11 years old and enslaved on a Barbados sugar plantation — and 1837, when he lives as a free young man in Halifax, Nova Scotia, drawing beautiful pictures and designing a before-its-time airship. (For the benefit of American viewers wondering why we're in Halifax, opening narration helpfully identifies it as the last stop on the Underground Railroad.) The split timeline does make Entertainment Sense. We don't have to wait around for young Wash (Eddie Karanja) to grow up into older Wash (Ernest Kingsley Jr.), and we are immediately introduced to Tanna Goff (Iola Evans), arriving from London with her father (Rupert Graves) for a 'fresh start.' (There was a scandal back in Britain.) Unbeknownst to Tanna, her father plans to marry her off to a young Canadian bigwig (Edward Bluemel), for what he believes is her own security. This is new, if very familiar, material. Advertisement Wash and Tanna meet-cute at the docks where he works, when based on her skin, he mistakes her for a servant — she's been passing for white, but he (and we) recognize her as a person of color. (Melanesian, to be exact.) In the coming days, he'll contrive to meet her here and there, until they get friendly, and friendlier. Like Wash, she'll be a voice for living free, 'to be myself, to live in my own skin.' ('We're both dreamers,' she muses. 'Can't we dream up a different world?') Coincidentally, and not unfortunately, her papa is a marine biologist, the author of a book Wash, who has a keen interest in the subject, knows well. Wash's gift for capturing the essence of living things on paper may prove useful to him. 1 2 1. Eddie Karanja plays young Wash in the series. (James Van Evers / Disney) 2. Sterling K. Brown, an executive producer, also stars. (Chris Reardon / Disney) Meanwhile, if that's the word, back in 1830, the future looks dim for young Wash under the harsh rule of plantation owner Erasmus Wilde (Julian Rhind-Tutt), a situation eased only by his beloved caring protector Big Kit (Shaunette Renée Wilson). (Ironically, the end of slavery throughout the British Empire was just around the corner.) One day, Erasmus' brother Christopher (Tom Ellis), called Titch, arrives driving a giant steam-powered tractor for no practical reason other than to announce him as a somewhat eccentric inventor, like Caractacus Pott; but it provides a point of connection between Titch and Wash, who becomes his assistant. Another character who had to leave London, Titch plans to use an island hilltop to launch his 'cloud cutter,' a flying machine that won't exist in the real world for many years but which looks cool. (Steampunk is the applicable term.) Advertisement When an incident on the island threatens to paint Wash, wrongly, as a murderer, Titch takes him up, up and away in his beautiful balloon. It's in the supercharged spirit of this adaptation that when they crash into a sailing ship, it should be full of pirates, and not merely pirates, but pirates who have stolen from the British a new sort of craft powered by a dynamo that looks heavy enough to sink it. This passage is crafted to show us a self-determined society, multiethnic and multigendered. When the pirates mutiny (bloodlessly), the new captain is a woman. They like Wash more than Titch, whom they throw in the brig, but they are nice, relatively speaking. Titch is an avowed abolitionist who won't use the sugar the plantation produces, and though we are called upon to note small hypocrisies or to question his motivations — is he trying to assuage his 19th century white liberal guilt even as he uses Wash to his own ends? — I will declare him sincere, if also a man of his time. The showrunners put him into a (very) brief debate with fierce figure from history Nat Turner (Jamie Hector), opposing Turner's militarism against Titch's less persuasive 'reason, logic and the appeal to man's better nature,' an argument suspended when Turner holds a knife to his throat. (Wash intercedes on his behalf; he is more than once his mentor's protector.) It also adds a shot of American history into this Canadian story. Sterling K. Brown, an executive producer, plays Medwin, a character much expanded from the novel, the unofficial mayor of the Black community who will swashbuckle in when a day needs to be saved. (There are bounty hunters from down south, looking for Wash; Billy Boyd, former Hobbit, is wonderfully creepy as Willard.) As to Wash, it's not enough that he's a gifted artist and scientist; the show introduces him as 'a boy brave enough to change the world.' Advertisement The novel trots the globe, from Barbados to Virginia to Nova Scotia to the Arctic to London to Morocco, and besides the hot-air balloon, includes the invention of the public aquarium. Though only four episodes of the series were available to review, photos indicate that lands of snow and sand are indeed on the itinerary (not sure about the aquarium), and as a fan of 19th century globe-trotting adventures, I do remain eager to see what the series makes of them. Kingsley and Evans, in their blossoming love story and otherwise, are good company throughout. Edugyan ends her book on a suspended chord, a note of mystery I don't imagine will be definitive enough for the filmmakers. But we shall see.
