Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the The Cosby Show star, passed away at age 54. The actor drowned while swimming, on a family vacation in Costa Rica, as per reports. Warner played the only son of Bill Cosby's character, Heathcliff Huxtable, in the NBC sitcom which ran from 1984 to 1992.
Bill Cosby mourned the demise of Warner, who portrayed his son, Theo Huxtable, on the show. Theo was loosely inspired by Cosby’s real-life son, Ennis, who died in 1997.
Bill Cosby pays tribute to Malcolm-Jamal Warner
In an interview with ABC News, Cosby, 88, remembered Warner as "very professional" and "a great studier."
Cosby enjoyed working with him very much. "He always knew his part, he always knew his lines, and he always knew where to go," Cosby said.
Cosby also revealed that his son Ennis and Warner were friends during their youth. Warner and Cosby maintained a close bond even after the show ended.
"Malcolm calls here regularly," Cosby said. "While I was their TV dad, I never stopped being a father to them."
Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, told People, that the death of Warner "reminded him of the same call he received when his son died."
Apart from being part of The Cosby Show, he also appeared in Reed Between the Lines, The Resident, Malcolm & Eddie, Sons of Anarchy, Jeremiah, and Suits, among others.
9-1-1 and Alert: Missing Persons Unit were his recent projects.
Coming back to Bill Cosby, he was accused by more than 60 women of sexual assault and misconduct. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment after he was convicted of sexual assault in 2018. He has denied all the allegations against him.
About Malcolm-Jamal Warner death
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department said Warner drowned Sunday (July 20) afternoon on a beach on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. He was swimming at Playa Cocles, a town in the province of Limón, when an ocean current pulled him deeper into it, reported AP.
First responders from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without vital signs and he was taken to the morgue.
