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By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN
(CNN) — Malcolm-Jamal Warner, an actor and artist who rose to fame as a child as Theodore Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” died Sunday in a drowning accident in Costa Rica, according to local police.
He was 54.
Warner was swimming at Playa Grande near the town of Cahuita in the province of Limón on the Caribbean coast around 2:30 p.m. local time, when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean, according to the Associated Press.
Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Police told CNN on Monday people who were on the beach tried to help Warner, but he was declared dead by the Red Cross. Another man is in critical condition after being pulled into the current with Warner, authorities said.
On Tuesday, the Judicial Investigation Police said an autopsy of Warner had been completed, with the manner of death classified as accidental, and the cause as “asphyxia by submersion” (or, drowning). Warner’s body will then be released to a funeral service selected by his family.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Warner for further information.
Beginnings on a landmark TV show
A native of New Jersey, Warner started acting at age 9, making appearances in shows like “Fame.” He was a young teen when he was cast as the only son of Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad’s characters, Heathcliff and Claire Huxtable, in “The Cosby Show,” which ran from 1984 to 1992.
In an interview with CNN affiliate WPVI Monday, Cosby recalled his on-screen son’s dedication to his craft.
“You could depend on Malcolm always … to learn his lines, to gather his character, to come out and be ready,” Cosby said.
Cosby told WPVI he was gutted by the “shocking” news of Warner’s death, adding, “Of course, my thoughts went straight to his mother, who worked so hard. She was so wonderful with him.”
Warner often spoke about the legacy of the popular, Emmy-winning sitcom with pride.
“The fact that the Cosby Show for Black America and White America alike finally legitimized the Black middle class, which has always been around since the inception of this country but, as with everything, is not legitimate ‘til it’s on television,” Warner said.
“When the show first came out, there were White people and Black people talking about (how) the Huxtables don’t really exist, Black people don’t really live like that. Meanwhile, we were getting tens of thousands of fan letters from people saying, thank you so much for this show,” he added.
Warner was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 1986 for his supporting work on “The Cosby Show.”
By the time the series was over, Warner said in a 2013 interview, “we were still on top enough to go out on top, but we were ready to live our own lives.”
“We were all ready to move on and as Mr. Cosby said, by that point, we had pretty much said all that we could say,” Warner added.
Warner’s comments on Cosby’s misconduct allegations
When dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against Cosby came to light years later, Warner acknowledged his sadness, saying he felt the sitcom’s legacy had been “tarnished.”
“My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of color on television and film, no matter what … negative stereotypes of people of color, we’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that,” Warner told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview. “And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”
Cosby denied all the allegations. A 2018 sexual assault conviction against him was later overturned.
Later career
As much as he honored playing Theo, Warner also worked hard to show how multifaceted he was, including being a Grammy-winning musician.
He won best traditional R&B performance in 2015 for the song “Jesus Children,” a Stevie Wonder cover Warner performed with the Robert Glasper Experiment. He was also nominated for a Grammy in 2023 for best spoken word poetry album.
Warner spoke with CNN in 2017 about his music and becoming a father.
“Being a new parent, I have a lot of new material for the music,” he said at the time. “It’s really awesome and right now, my daughter’s four months so I don’t have to tell her ‘No.’”
Warner continued working steadily in television throughout his career, with credits including “Touched by an Angel,” “Community,” “Key and Peele,” “Suits,” “Sons of Anarchy” and “American Horror Story.”
Tracee Ellis Ross, with whom Warner costarred on the BET series “Reed Between the Lines,” remembered her friend in a tribute shared on social media.
“I love you, Malcolm. First I met you as Theo with the rest of the world then you were my first TV husband,” Ross wrote. “My heart is so so sad. What an actor and friend you were: warm, gentle, present, kind, thoughtful, deep, funny, elegant. You made the world a brighter place. Sending so much love to your family. I’m so sorry for this unimaginable loss.”
Eddie Griffin, who starred opposite of Warner in the series “Malcolm & Eddie” for four seasons between 1996 and 2000, also paid tribute.
“My Heart is heavy today… 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,” Griffin wrote in a statement. “You’ve taught me so much and I thank you 🙏🏾 Rest Well My Big little Brother 🙏🏾❤️🙏🏾.”
Some of Warner’s more recent acting credits include “The Resident,” “The Wonder Years” reboot, “Grownish” and “9-1-1.”
Last year, Warner launched his podcast “Not All Hood” with the goal of continuing to be a voice that explores the diverse experiences of the Black community and touch on themes of representation in media.
“When we talk about the Black community, we tend to speak of it as a monolith when the reality is there are so many different facets of the Black community, and we wanted to have a space where we can really explore, discuss, and acknowledge all of those different aspects,” he told People magazine in an interview last year.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Lisa Respers France, Ana Melgar, Alli Rosenbloom, Dan Heching, Hanna Park, Djenane Villanueva and Jose Alvarez contributed to this report.
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