Stage and television actor Carl Gordon has died. The cause of his death was non-Hodgkins lymphoma. After four decades of menial work, Gordon decided to pursue acting. On Broadway, Gordon originated the part of Doaker, the upright uncle in The Piano Lesson (1990), by August Wilson. He also played the role in the 1995 CBS television adaptation. He starred as the firecracker patriarch of the working-class Emerson family on the groundbreaking sitcom Roc. He was 78.
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—Nsenga K. Burton