Cuba Gooding Sr has been found dead in a car in Woodland Hills, California on Thursday. He was 72. According to reports, the father of Cuba Gooding Jr is thought to have overdosed after police confirmed to KABC that they found empty bottles of alcohol and drug paraphernalia in the car. The fire department attempted to resuscitate him after arriving around midday without success. He is survived by his wife Shirley and four children – Cuba Jr, Omar, Tommy and April.
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© Photo: Getty ImagesCuba Sr with his son, actor Cuba Gooding Jr
The People vs. OJ Simpson actor previously opened up about his dad during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, joking about why he wouldn't let him visit him on set anymore. "He gave Tom Cruise a hug and said, 'I love you man. Now seriously, are you gay or not?'" he said. "I almost fainted. And thought, please lord let me disappear. Tom just laughed and said, 'no.'"
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© Photo: Getty ImagesCuba Sr was 72
Cuba was the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, who were best known for their hit single 1972 song Everybody Plays the Fool, and Cuba Jr spoke fondly of his father during an episode of Inside the Actors Studio earlier this year. He said: "I remember, one of my earliest memories… He would perform at Disneyland, and after his performances, they would close it off to the general public and all the performers' kids would go on the rides as many times as they’d want. He would pull me up on stage with him and make me finish the song because I'd seen him perform all the time. It was a lot of feeling like, 'I come from royalty.'"
