'Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman dies at age 43
Boseman dies after 4-year fight with colon cancer.
The late actor Chadwick Boseman was honored in his hometown of Anderson, S.C., on Thursday.
Boseman, known for his role in “Black Panther” and many other films, died last Friday of colon cancer. He was 43 years old.
“He was beloved here, the same way he was around the world," city spokeswoman Beth Batson said Thursday.
CHADWICK BOSEMAN 'BLACK PANTHER' CO-STAR MICHAEL B. JORDAN PENS TRIBUTE TO LATE
Thursday’s tribute will begin at 7 p.m. ET and will include a viewing of “Black Panther” at an outdoor amphitheater where social distancing will be practiced, Batson said.
Boseman was a playwright who acted and directed in theater before playing the Marvel Comics character T’Challa in “Black Panther,” which became one of the top-grossing films in history. He also had starring roles in the Jackie Robinson film “42″ and in “Get On Up," which portrayed the life of singer James Brown.
Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Privately, he was also undergoing many surgeries and chemotherapy in his battle with colon cancer.
In Anderson, a city of about 28,000 people, “there's deep sadness and grief, but it has a bounce out of it that is such inspiration," Batson said. That's because Boseman inspired so many people in the community, she said.
“It has been amazing to watch the grief, so to speak, blossom," she said. “Now young people say ‘’what can I do, what can I be.'"
Former President Barack Obama saw that phenomenon first-hand in the White House.
This film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in a scene from "42." (AP/Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Chadwick came to the White House to work with kids when he was playing Jackie Robinson. You could tell right away that he was blessed,” Obama tweeted shortly after his death. “To be young, gifted, and Black; to use that power to give them heroes to look up to; to do it all while in pain – what a use of his years."
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Thursday’s tribute is not a funeral, and members of Boseman’s immediate family did not plan to be in attendance, Boseman’s publicist, Nicki Fioravante, said in a statement.
“On behalf of the Boseman Family, we appreciate the community’s outpouring of love and admiration for Chadwick,” Fioravante said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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