Keith Jefferson, whose acting credits included Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the about-to-debut The Burial, has died of cancer at 53. Jefferson announced on Instagram Aug. 9 that he had been diagnosed with the disease.
On Thursday, actor Jamie Foxx took to Instagram to mourn his longtime friend.
“Keith, you’ve been nothing but absolute grace, your whole life your heart is pure your love is immeasurable you were an amazing soul,” Foxx wrote in his caption.
“We will all miss you dearly. It’s gonna take a long time for this to heal,” Foxx wrote. “Goodbye, my friend. I love you.”
Foxx added in another post, “Everything hurts right now having a hard time looking through these pictures reliving the memories of us having a great time going to miss you man gonna miss you.”
He continued, “since we met back in college, you have been in incredible soul God rest, NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE TO SEE THE WORDS ABOUT MY FRIEND RIP @keith.jefferson Keith”
The multitalented Jefferson was an actor, producer, voiceover artist and acting coach. His work with Foxx dates back to 1998, when he appeared in two episodes of the sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show.
Jefferson is credited with roles in Quentin Tarantino‘s 2012 film Django Unchained, which starred Foxx in the title role, as well as Foxx’s 2022 film Day Shift and the new film, The Burial.
Jefferson continued to work with Tarantino with roles in 2015’s The Hateful Eight and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
The actor shared a trailer for The Burial on his Instagram last month: “It’s finally here and what a blessing it was to work on this film with an amazing group of actors. Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones along with an all star cast and my most important role to date.”
No information on survivors or memorial plans was immediately available.
