Its been a week since it was announced that Chadwick Boseman died of Colon Cancer. For many people Chadwick will be remembered as Black Panther from the Avengers Movies. It has been a long time since I have posted a blog and I have spent the last week deciding between writing about Colon Cancer or Chadwick Boseman. In the end I decided to write about both. This post will be about Chadwick Boseman with Colon Cancer to follow shortly.
Chadwick Boseman was born in Anderson South Carolina on November 29th, 1976 and died aged 43 in Los Angeles on August 28th, 2020, after a four-year battle with Cancer. Like many actors Chadwick Boseman started off with small guest roles on tv shows such as Third Watch, Law and Order as well as CSI New York. In 2008 Chadwick had a regular role in American tv series Lincoln Heights and appeared in his first feature film, The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. Chadwick Boseman also wrote plays such as Deep Azure performed at the Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago; it was nominated for a 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work. Plays he wrote, including Rhyme Deferred (co-writer and performer), and Hieroglyphic Graffiti were part of the Hip Hop theatre movement.
Black Panther was a ground-breaking movie for many reasons. It was the first blockbuster movie with a predominantly black cast with a black leading man. Even in 2018 there were directors and film critics in Hollywood claiming Black Panther would be a flop simply because it did not have enough white actors. There were also claims that a black man would not be taken seriously in a leading role. Maybe I am naive, however I do not see how the colour of a person’s skin could possibly be an issue in their acting ability. When this was brought up by journalists reporting Chadwick’s death I began to think of all the amazing black actor’s such as Morgan Freeman, Eddie Murphy, Samuel L Jackson and Halle Berry who have all played leading roles in successful films. The more I thought about it the more I realised that these actor’s all spoke with American accents, whereas in Black Panther the actors all spoke in an African accent. To me this still should not have been an issue, again I may be naïve.
Chadwick Boseman’s films, tv appearances and awards are detailed below:
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | The Express: The Ernie Davis Story | Floyd Little | |
| 2012 | The Kill Hole | Lt. Samuel Drake | |
| 2013 | 42 | Jackie Robinson | |
| 2014 | Draft Day | Vontae Mack | |
| 2014 | Get on Up | James Brown | |
| 2016 | Gods of Egypt | Thoth | |
| 2016 | Captain America: Civil War | T’Challa / Black Panther | |
| 2016 | Message from the King | Jacob King | Also, executive producer |
| 2017 | Marshall | Thurgood Marshall | Also, co-producer |
| 2018 | Black Panther | T’Challa / Black Panther | |
| 2018 | Avengers: Infinity War | ||
| 2019 | Avengers: Endgame | ||
| 2019 | 21 Bridges | Andre Davis | Also, producer |
| 2020 | Da 5 Bloods | Norman Earl “Stormin’ Norm” Holloway | |
| TBA | Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Levee | Post-production; posthumous release |
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | All My Children | Reggie Porter | Recurring role |
| 2003 | Third Watch | David Wafer | Episode: “In Lieu of Johnson” |
| 2004 | Law & Order | Foster Keyes | Episode: “Can I Get a Witness?” |
| 2006 | CSI: NY | Rondo | Episode: “Heroes” |
| 2008 | ER | Derek Taylor | Episode: “Oh, Brother” |
| 2008 | Cold Case | Dexter Collins | Episode: “Street Money” |
| 2008–2009 | Lincoln Heights | Nathaniel “Nate” Ray | 9 episodes |
| 2009 | Lie to Me | Cabe McNeil | Episode: “Truth or Consequences” |
| 2010 | Persons Unknown | Sergeant McNair | Main role; 13 episodes |
| 2010 | The Glades | Michael Richmond | Episode: “Honey” |
| 2011 | Castle | Chuck Russell | Episode: “Poof, You’re Dead” |
| 2011 | Fringe | Mark Little / Cameron James | Episode: “Subject 9“ |
| 2011 | Detroit 1-8-7 | Tommy Westin | Episode: “Beaten/Cover Letter” |
| 2011 | Justified | Ralph Beeman | Episode: “For Blood or Money” |
| 2018 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host) | Episode: “Chadwick Boseman/Cardi B“ |
| 2021 | What If…? | T’Challa / Black Panther / Star-Lord | Guest voice role; posthumous release |
Awards and nominations
What I find the most amazing about Chadwick Boseman is that he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2016, yet he still filmed Black Panther, Avengers movies and visited children with cancer in the hospital, all while dying of cancer himself. Chadwick would go to the hospital for cancer treatment, then visit children, film his scenes in his movies and still make all his appearances.
Chadwick Boseman you truly are an amazing man. Rest in Peace.
