Then there's now.

I don't generally get weepy about celebrities dying.  But every now and then, one kind of catches me by surprise.

My first exposure to Andre Braugher was shortly after Matt and I got married.  Matt found the entire series of Homicide on DVD at Costco.  We bought it, and within a few months, basically inhaled it, bit by bit.

Matt watched it when it aired originally.  It was a series that never really gained the audience it might otherwise have under different circumstances.  I believe that if it were to air today in the era of streaming, it might have the same trajectory of The Wire - same creator, for what it's worth.

The star power was massive. Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Jon Polito.

Andre Braugher played lone wolf Baltimore Police Detective Frank Pembleton.  He's paired with new guy, Kyle Secor's Tim Bayliss.

Every character on there is weird and quirky and human.  And that was part of why after a few seasons, some of the less attractive characters were retired, killed off, etc. in favor of some hotter, younger, sexier characters.  

I personally got enough eye candy from Braugher and Secor.

But Andre Braugher just killed it on that show.  He was a force. 

After that, he briefly appeared with Ray Romano on a cable dram-com called Men of a Certain Age.

And then, he ended up on this little gem called Brooklyn 99.  In a seriocomic role that basically stole the damn show.  This time, he was the police captain.  He was lovely.  That whole cast was fun. I watched sporadically, but now I need to go back again and watch it all.

Anyway, I once said I'd watch Andre Braugher read a phone book - he had that deep actor voice that just hit you in the gut.

Sixty-one.  Lung cancer.

This one really bummed me out.

                                      Andre Braugher as Det. Frank Pembleton of Homicide: Life on the Street

Chris Haston/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank