Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s ‘Cosby’ sister Keshia Knight Pulliam pays tribute: ‘I gained an angel’
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Keshia Knight Pulliam, who shared the screen with Malcolm-Jamal Warner on “The Cosby Show,” highlighted the Emmy-nominated actor’s musical talents as she broke her silence on his death.
Pulliam on Sunday shared an Instagram video of Warner playing the bass at Atlanta’s City Winery. She shared the video of Warner, best known for his portrayal of clean-cut Theodore Huxtable, a week after he drowned while swimming in the Caribbean off Costa Rica. He was 54.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the Emmy-nominated actor who played Theo Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ has died during a family vacation in Costa Rica. He was 54.
“A week ago I lost my big brother but I gained an angel,” Pulliam captioned her video. She played Rudy Huxtable, the youngest of the TV family’s children.
“I love you... I miss you,” she added, before referencing the other Huxtable children. “We got our girls.”
“House of Payne” star Pulliam, 46, is the latest “Cosby Show” star to mourn Warner. As news of the actor-musician’s death spread last week, co-stars including Bill Cosby, Geoffrey Owens and Raven-Symoné paid tribute. Cosby told CBS News last week he and co-star Phylicia Rashad were “embracing each other over the phone” when they learned of Warner’s death.
“He was never afraid to go to his room and study. He knew his lines and that he was quite comfortable even with the growing pains of a being a teenager,” Cosby said of Warner.
Owens, who appeared as Warner’s on-screen brother-in-law, Elvin Tibideaux, said in a statement shared with Deadline that his co-star’s death had left him speechless. “Malcolm was a lovely man; a sweet and sensitive soul. I respected him for many reasons, including the fact that he genuinely loved the act of creation,” he said.
Warner, also a TV director and a Grammy-winning musician, was on vacation with his family at the time of his death. He was swimming when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean.
The actor who played Theo on ‘The Cosby Show’ portrayed a nuanced character with humanity, inviting all of us watching to be fully human as well.
The Red Cross in Costa Rica confirmed to The Times last week that its first responders also tended to another man in the same drowning incident that claimed Warner’s life. The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, survived. First responders found Warner without vital signs, and he was taken to the morgue.
As news of his death spread last week, his Hollywood peers, including Morris Chestnut, Tracee Ellis Ross, Viola Davis and Niecy Nash also paid tribute on social media. Beyoncé honored the actor, briefly updating her website to include a tribute to the TV star.
Pulliam also thanked fans on Sunday for their support as she mourned. “Thank you for every text, call and all the love that you have sent my way,” she said in an Instagram story. “I’ve just needed a moment.”
City Winery in Atlanta, the venue from Pulliam’s video, will host an event in Warner’s honor on Wednesday. “This tribute is our communal offering to say: Thank you. For the way he gave, for the work he created, for the bridges he built between TV, poetry, music, and love,” says the event website. According to the site, all profits will go to Warner’s family. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
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