Actor Andre Braugher dies at 61. ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ cast and crew pay tribute: ‘Can’t believe you’re gone so soon’

Andre Braugher, the Emmy award-winning actor known for his starring roles on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Homicide: Life on the Street,” died on Monday.

Braugher died following a brief illness, his publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed to The Associated Press. Further details have not been released.

After playing the brooding, intense Baltimore detective Frank Pembleton on “Homicide” for seven seasons, Braugher took on a comedic role on the hit sitcom, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” His deadpan humor earned him four Emmy nominations and launched him into stardom.

“I just felt as though it was an opportunity to do something strikingly different from the rest of my career,” Braugher told AP in 2019 on his decision to take on a comedic role in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”

“I like it because it just simply opens up my mind and forces me to think in a different way. So I think I’ve become much more sort of supple as an actor, and more open to the incredible number of possibilities of how to play a scene.”

Braugher starred in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” as Captain Ray Holt for eight seasons. Despite his no-nonsense attitude onscreen, his colleagues remember him as a man who “was so full of song.” Here’s how the cast and crew of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” have reacting to his passing.

Terry Crews

“Can’t believe you’re gone so soon,” wrote Terry Crews, who played Terry Jeffords in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” on Instagram. “I’m honored to have known you, laughed with you, worked with you and shared 8 glorious years watching your irreplaceable talent. This hurts. You left us too soon. You taught me so much. I will be forever grateful for the experience of knowing you. Thank you for your wisdom, your advice, your kindness and your friendship. Deepest condolences to your wife and family in this difficult time. You showed me what a life well lived looks like.”

Joe Lo Truglio

Joe Lo Truglio, who played Charles Boyle on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” fondly remembered Braugher’s “belting bassy vocals from his dressing room.”

“So many wonderful stories will be told about Andre but for now, all my love goes to his wife Ami and his three boys, who he loved very much and flew back every weekend from the show to be with,” Lo Truglio wrote on Instagram.

“We all know how powerful an actor he was, but even more, Andre knew exactly well his most important role and was deeply proud of it. He spoke often about his sons, and knew how lucky he was to have Ami. I’m grateful to them for allowing us to share eight years with him. He was committed and passionate about the things he loved.”

Chelsea Peretti

“Love you,” Chelsea Peretti, who played Gina Linetti on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” wrote on Instagram. “Will miss your dulcet tones. Forever lucky to have gone on such a journey with you. Ringside seat. You were so funny to me and the epitome of still waters run deep. I will always cherish our conversations, often with me hanging in your doorway barring your exit, and the insane opportunity to be your sidekick. Is it weird that I am also grieving for what Captain Holt meant to Gina? I really hoped and knew I would see you again. Hate that I won’t.”

Joel McKinnon Miller

Joel McKinnon Miller, who played Norm Scully on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” wrote on Instagram: “Sending love to Andre’s family and friends and all of us who had the honor of working with him.”

Dirk Blocker

“Fiercely intelligent, remarkably kind, supportive, generous and possessed a deep and extraordinary talent, and had even more to offer,” shared Dirk Blocker, who played Michael Hitchcock on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” adding, “I am devastated. I love him. The 9 years I was able to work with him and to just be in his presence was truly a blessing. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family.”

Marc Evan Jackson

“O Captain. My Captain,” Marc Evan Jackson — who played the husband of Braugher’s Captain Holt on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of the pair on set.

Chris Miller

“I got to know Andre a little while doing the Brooklyn Nine-Nine pilot,” filmmaker Chris Miller shared on X. “He was a kind, thoughtful, supremely talented person. The way he and (Andy Samberg’s) opposite approaches to acting baffled & then slowly influenced each other was a magical dynamic that was the heart of the show.”

Mike Royce

“This is impossible for me to process,” posted Mike Royce, creator of “Men of a Certain Age,” which Braugher starred in from 2009 to 2011. “He was best actor in the world. An incredible human being. An incomprehensible loss.”

Ryan Case

“I can’t stop crying. I have so many wonderful things to say about this amazing man who was so immensely talented and kind to me. So many of my favorite moments editing and directing were because of him. Gone way way way too soon. My heart aches for his family and friends,” Ryan Case, a director and editor on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” wrote on X, along with a thread of memories of working with Braugher.

“My ‘challenge’ editing him in the Brooklyn pilot was finding takes where he wasn’t smiling. We wanted to save that for the end,” Case continued. “He was like a giddy school child doing his first comedy and it was so wonderful.”