‘Django Unchained’ Actor Keith Jefferson Dead at 53: Co-Star Jamie Foxx Pays Tribute

Keith Jefferson, an actor who appeared in a handful of Quentin Tarantino films like Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, has died. He was 53.

The official cause of death is not known, but Jefferson shared back in August he was battling cancer. Jamie Foxx took to Instagram on Thursday to pay tribute to his longtime friend and co-star. Foxx first shared a photo of himself with Jefferson in what appeared to be a recent visit to the hospital.

“[T]his one hurts. 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 captioned his post. “We will all miss you dearly. It’s gonna take a long time for this to heal. Goodbye, my friend. I love you.”

Shortly after, Foxx uploaded another photo alongside Jefferson while posing in front of a private jet. 

“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,” Foxx captioned the second post. “[E]ver 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 💔💔💔💔.”

Nicole Scherzinger also dropped three emojis — 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽.

In an Aug. 9 post, Jefferson opened up about his health and expressed love for those closest to him, including Foxx. 

“Every now and then God will give you a challenge and leave it up to you to fix it. When I was first diagnosed with cancer I had to stop, pause , and didn’t want to share with anyone,” he shared in his caption. “Not my family nor extended family. Today I’m finally at a place to share because my faith is getting stronger. I have a loving family and the best friends in the entire world. You know who you are. From my Mom to J Foxx and everybody in between. I love you whole heartedly. We are cut from the same cloth and that cloth is the human condition. Remember…’faith is the last thing you can lose.’ I’m not about to lose that 🙏🏾 💪🏾 👊🏾❤️ .”

Foxx commented on that post saying, “I love you my brother we will beat this.” Foxx’s daughter, Corinne, also commented, “Love you Keith ❤️.”

According to his IMDb bio, Jefferson was born in Houston, Texas, where he began his acting career at just 8 years old when he played the gatekeeper in the stage play The Wizard of Oz. He was a three-sport athlete at Eisenhower High School and would go on to earn a musical theatre degree in San Diego and a master’s in acting at the University of Arizona in Tucson. 

His first big role came in 1997 when he landed a role in Buffalo Soldiers portraying Private Andrew Boyer alongside Danny Glover. Jefferson, who also had a recurring role in The Jamie Foxx Show, would soon become a staple in Tarantino films. He appeared as Pudgy Ralph in Django Unchained, Charly in The Hateful Eight and Land Pirate Keith in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. 

In December 2020, Jefferson took to Instagram and shared a collage of photos of him and Foxx. In the caption, Jefferson explained their tight friendship that spanned more than three decades.

“Fizz you bring so much joy, love, and happiness into a everyone’s life. We rollin 31 yrs of friendship. All the way back to when we was eating grill cheese sandwiches in the student center late night then we hit the streets of San Diego and LA discussing dreams and ambitions,” Jefferson captioned his post. “Convos nobody knows about. I said it before but it never gets old…I’m so proud of you brother and I’m grateful for all the doors you have opened for me. Happy birthday JF luv you bro 💯.”

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