Lou Myers, the actor most popularly known for playing Mr. Vernon Gaines on the NBC television series A Different World, died in 2013. His character was so loved and adorable in a senior figure who always gave us the truth when we needed it. According to reports, the actor died at Charleston Medical Center in West Virginia after undergoing a heart-related emergency and falling into a coma.
In December 2012, Myers was hospitalized for pneumonia. He was 77. Yet, despite his age, Myers was known to always be energetic, funny and much like his “tell-it-like-it-is” spirit on
Myers, a Chesapeake, W.Va native, lived in the Charleston area.
A Different World” ran from 1987 to 1993 and was conceived as a spinoff from the hugely successful “The Cosby Show,” in which the characters attended a historically black university. Myers starred on the show alongside Lisa Bonet and Jada Pinkett. In his later years, Myers would also make memorable appearances in numerous other television shows and films such as “The Wedding Planner,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “Tin Cup” and “All About the Andersons.”
Myers career credits also include stints on NYPD Blue and E.R.
Myers appeared on Broadway as well, including productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple.
In 2005, the Appalachian Education Initiative listed Myers as one of 50 “Outstanding Creative Artists” from the state of West Virginia and featured him in their coffee table book Art & Soul.
He began singing jazz and blues with the touring company of “Negro Music in Vogue,” according to a biography provided by McDonald.
His Cabaret show has been acclaimed in Berlin, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York, as well as
Los Angeles at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Myers was chairman of Global Business Incubation that helps urban small businesses and chairman of the Lou Myers Scenario Motion Picture Institute/Theatre.
He won a NAACP “Best Actor” award for playing the Stool Pigeon in “King Hedley II,” a play by August Wilson.
Myers is survived by his mother and a son.
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