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Chadwick Boseman, the American actor best known for his role as King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther, has died after a protracted battle with colon cancer, the Associated Press reports. Despite being diagnosed four years ago, Boseman’s illness had not been made public. He was 43 years old.
Boseman’s career had been defined by portraying Black icons both fictional and historical. After appearing in various television shows and theater productions, Boseman’s breakout role came with the 2013 film 42, in which he portrayed baseball pioneer and star Jackie Robinson. His death comes on the same day Major League Baseball celebrated its annual Jackie Robinson Day, in honor of the Brooklyn Dodgers infielder credited with breaking baseball’s color barrier. In 2014, Boseman starred as James Brown in the biopic Get on Up. And in 2017, he portrayed the first black Supreme Court Justice in Marshall. He most recently appeared in Spike Lee’s Vietnam War film Da 5 Bloods.
“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said in a statement to the AP. “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.”