‘Cosby Show’ actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies in drowning in Costa Rica

LOS ANGELES (AFP): US actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played the son in the smash-hit sitcom “The Cosby Show,” has drowned in Costa Rica, authorities in the country said Monday. He was 54.

Warner played the loveable Theo Huxtable for all eight seasons of the show, helmed by disgraced comic actor Bill Cosby.

“We received a report of an adult male who died of drowning asphyxiation at Cocles Beach in Cahuita” on Sunday afternoon, said a statement from investigating police.

“When the victim entered the sea he was apparently pulled out by a current. “The man was assisted by bystanders on the beach, but was pronounced dead by Red Cross lifeguards.”

Local authorities identified him as the actor, and said his body had been transferred to a morgue for further analysis.

Warner, who was nominated for an Emmy for his work on “The Cosby Show,” also appeared in sitcoms “Malcolm & Eddie” and “Reed Between the Lines.”

“The Cosby Show,” which ran from 1984 to 1992, was one of the biggest TV hits of its time, detailing the lives of a middle-class Black family in New York.

The show was inspired by the stand-up routines of Bill Cosby, who played the family’s patriarch, a successful doctor.

The show was a commercial and critical hit, and was seen as groundbreaking for its depiction of a loving, happy Black family.

But its legacy has been overshadowed in recent years by dozens of complaints of sexual assault against Cosby, a man once known as “America’s Dad.”