Chadwick Boseman was a gifted actor. He earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Ma Rainey's

Black Bottom, and he played James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall. But he was

probably best known for his role as T'Challa in Black Panther and Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Disney and Marvel decided not to recast this role, and Black Panther Wakanda forever will directly

address the death of Boseman. We'll be talking about that film later this week, but today we're

going to revisit our episode looking back at Chadwick Boseman's essential performances. I'm Aisha Harris,

and I'm Linda Holmes, and in this encore episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're talking

about some of the work of Chadwick Boseman.

Welcome back. You just met Aisha also with us from his home in Alexandria, Virginia,

is Ronald Young. Junior, Ronald is host of the podcast, Leaving the Theater, and associate producer

of the new VPM and Witness Docs podcast, Seizing Freedom. Welcome back, Ronald.

Thanks for having me. So we've been doing this essential series in which we've looked at

performances from actors like Regina King and Stephen Young. Chadwick Boseman's career was cut short

last year. He died of colon cancer in August, who is 43. He kept the fact that he was being treated

for cancer within a very small circle of people until his death. We really wanted to take a look at

some of the performances that show his range and his skill over and above Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,

which is his final on-screen performance. He won a Golden Globe for that role last month,

and now he's up for an Oscar. Boseman was a playwright and worked in theater as a young actor.

There's a great piece in the undefeated by our friend, Saraya Nadia McDonald, that looks at

that legacy, particularly from his time at Howard University. His big break as a film actor came when

he played Jackie Robinson in the 2013 film, 42. Aisha, I want to start with you. You chose one of

those biopic roles to talk about. I did indeed. By the time Black Panther came along, there was kind

...