I just read the news about the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner. According to reports, it was an accidental drowning. He was 54.
For folks in my generation, Warner lives in our imaginations as Theo, the precocious teenage son of Clair and Cliff Huxtable. Even though it was a fictional family, they were nearly universally beloved. They were a picture of what everyone wished their family could be–loving, committed, loyal, not broken or perverse. They honored the grandparents and hung together. And they made us laugh. Pure joy.
It was more than a sitcom. It was an ideal. An aspiration. That is why it was so hard to learn the distance between the image and the reality with the fall of Bill Cosby. Obviously, everyone knew that the family was fictional. Still, the story they were telling was iconic. It seemed to point to something permanent and good.
That is why this news about the death of Warner is going to hit differently for many fans. He was a real person who leaves behind a hole and a profound grief for all those who actually knew and loved him.
But for those of us who knew him only as Theo, it’s a reminder of a moment–a snapshot of a time long gone–when there seemed to be this perfect family. And we ache for it and (if we’re honest) still desperately wish for it to be true.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970-2025)
