Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his 8-year-old daughter when he drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on July 20.
Costa Rica police told ABC News that the child and the “Cosby Show” actor were both struggling in a strong rip current that pushed them deeper into the Caribbean Sea.
A surfer managed to get the little girl onto his surf board, while a lifeguard tried to rescue Warner. Warner and his daughter were taken out of the water and on the beach, where a lifeguard performed CPR on Warner for 45 minutes.
Warner, 54, was transported to a hospital in Limón, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy ruled his official cause of death as asphyxia.
The Costa Rican Red Cross confirmed that a 35-year-old man was transported to a local Limón clinic. The man nearly drowned while trying to rescue Warner. The man was discharged from the hospital.
Warner was best known as Theodore Huxtable, the only son of Bill Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad’s Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”
After the series ended in 1992, Warner went on to star in the 1990s UPN sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie” and on the Fox medical drama “The Resident” from 2018 to 2023.
Bill Cosby shared his memories of his TV son in an exclusive interview with ABC News. “He was always a great studier, and I enjoyed working with him very much,” Cosby said.
“He was very professional,” Cosby added. “He always knew his part… He always knew his lines, and he always knew where to go.”
Tracee Ellis Ross, who starred with Warner as a married couple in “Reed Between the Lines,” wrote in a post on Instagram: “I love you, Malcolm. First I met you as Theo with the rest of the world then you were my first TV husband. My heart is so so sad. What an actor and friend you were: warm, gentle, present, kind, thoughtful, deep, funny, elegant. You made the world a brighter place. Sending so much love to your family. I’m so sorry for this unimaginable loss.”
