'Boyz n the Hood' star Cuba Gooding Jr. was with iconic film's director John Singleton at the time of his death
'Boyz n the Hood' star Cuba Gooding Jr. revealed that he was able to give an emotional farewell to the late director John Singleton before his passing away in April.
In an exclusive with TooFab, the actor recalled his final moments with the director and said he rushed to the hospital after hearing about Singleton's fatal stroke.
"I was with John when he passed," he said. "In the hospital, he was already in a coma when we got there."
"But I got the opportunity to tell him that I love him, and to thank him for starting my career, and Omar Gooding's career, my brother who was in 'Baby Boy'."
Gooding Jr. also recalled his last conversation with Singleton.
When he joined the "Chicago" musical in 2018, Singleton had given him a hug and a kiss saying, "I didn't know you could sing." He also added that he and Singleton, along with his 'Boyz n the Hood' co-star Morris Chestnut, were all born within six days of each other. The trio were all born between January 1 and 6, 1968. "We were like three guys starting our careers on that movie, I'll always love him for that," he said.
According to Daily Mail, Gooding Jr. explained that he would continue Singleton's legacy by "doing good work and telling more stories."
"He still has one brother left", he concluded.
As reported by Pagesix, Gooding Jr. had spent May 1 musically memorializing the director. He was reportedly seen at West Village piano bar Marie’s Crisis. After the song 'One Day More' from 'Les Misérables' was sung, he had quietened the room and requested the song to be sung again as it was one of Singleton's favorites. He was then spotted at the rooftop lounge PH-D at the Dream Downtown, where he was seen jumping into the DJ booth and sharing memories of Singleton before playing the Five Stairsteps song “O-o-h Child,” which featured prominently in their 1991 film.
Gooding Jr. shot to prominence after starring in 'Boyz n the Hood,' and later appeared in 'A Few Good Men' (1992), 'The Tuskegee Airmen' (1995), 'Outbreak' (1995), and 'Jerry Maguire' (1996), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Singleton had an impressive directorial CV. His list of superhits included 'Poetic Justice' (1993), 'Higher Learning' (1995), 'Baby Boy' (2001), '2 Fast 2 Furious' (2003) and 'Four Brothers' (2005). He was the first black director to receive an Academy Award nomination, as well as the youngest director nominee in Oscar history for “Boyz n the Hood.”
He had suffered a major stroke on April 17 and was put into a medically induced coma. His family made the tough decision of taking him off life-support two weeks later on April 28.
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