Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - By MIKE BRANTLEY

His soft-spoken words -- surprising in their low, conversational volume if you were expecting the shouted tough talk of the gunnery sergeant he played in "An Officer and a Gentleman" -- delivered a big message in Mobile on Monday. 

It's the message God means for him to convey at every opportunity, said award-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., who was in town to share his story of recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction as the speaker at the 11th Annual Drug Education Council Anniversary Luncheon.

"I had to go through the process of getting rid of the resentment and the resistance and the rage and the revenge," Gossett, 71, told the Press-Register about an hour before delivering his talk to the sold-out benefit luncheon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center. "I had to clean my act up to get a clear message from God of what I am on the planet to do." 

Said Gossett, "I'm not on the planet to be a movie star. That happens. I am on the planet to be of service." 

From his early role in the Broadway and motion picture productions of "A Raisin in the Sun" to his current part in the movie comedy "Daddy's Little Girls," Gossett has been a presence in the public eye for decades. His part in the 1983 movie "An Officer and a Gentlemen" cemented his place in popular culture as the screen's personification of a tough-as-nails military sergeant, and he was cast in similar roles in the "Iron Eagle" movies, as well as "The Punisher." 

Gossett's work in "An Officer and a Gentleman" earned him an Academy Award, and the part also got him the first of two Golden Globes. His second Golden Globe was a result of his work in the 1992 television movie "The Josephine Baker Story." 

His role in another TV production -- the landmark 1977 miniseries "Roots" -- earned Gossett an Emmy for playing the plantation slave Fiddler. 

"I've got the awards on my shelf," Gossett told the newspaper. "But my lesson to the young is that it is not the bling bling. It's not the awards. It's not the limousines. It's not the girls. It's not the alcohol. 

"It's what you give back, but it has to start from the inside and not the outside. You give back to keep the grace. The other stuff seems to fall naturally into place." 

A child of the Great Depression, Gossett was born in Brooklyn in New York in 1936. He said he vividly recalls the sights, the sounds and the smells that came from the front room of his childhood home on Friday and Saturday nights, when older family members would drink, smoke and dance to the music of the times. 

"The odor of love and excitement was the odor of alcohol," he said. "It was the smell of good times and the sound of jazz. My aspirations were to be like my father and my uncles." 

He grew up to live a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde existence -- being the respectable, hard-working actor on stage or the movie set and a devotee to his vices when he wasn't working. He drank excessively and used marijuana, he said, yet would be at work on time come Monday morning. 

"People were very kind to me, but the word was out," Gossett said. "There is a system that happens. In 55 years of working, I must have missed about three hours because of my addiction, my disease. But you could see it on my face." 

Eventually, Gossett heard the message that he now passes on to others who need to hear it. 

"Somebody spoke in front of me at a meeting sometime, and I got it," the actor said. "That's what it is about. It has saved my life, and that is the story I want people to tell about me." 

It's important for him to speak about addiction and recovery at events such as the Drug Education Council's luncheon, Gossett said, because "people need to know." 

He said, "They see who I am now, and some of them who are listening are not up at that level. They are struggling with certain human thoughts. They're thinking things like, 'I feel so sorry. I'm guilty. I've lost my family. Let's see if I can get something from this man to get better.'" 

Drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, Gossett said, and there are people in every walk of life suffering from the disease. There are many, too, living lives of recovery, he said. 

"We are all over the place," he said. "We are astronauts. We are governors. We are leaders. We are journalists. We are athletes." 

Gossett is currently developing a nonprofit foundation, The Eracism Foundation, with the aim of developing and producing entertainment that brings awareness and education to issues such as racism, ignorance and societal apathy. 

"Part of the thing that keeps us apart is our differences," Gossett said. "Instead of celebrating them, we fight over them." 

At a time when the planet itself is threatened with environmental catastrophe caused by pollution, Gossett said, its people cannot afford to do anything but work together. 

"It doesn't matter if the planet is gone," he said. 

Then, using his words to paint the same picture he would create for luncheon attendees in the next hour, Gossett added, "Here's your image: Everybody is in a 747 plane at 30,000 feet above the sea. It is plummeting to the ground, and everybody in the plane is fighting over who is going to be in first class. It doesn't make sense, does it?" 

The Drug Education Council, a United Way agency, provides comprehensive drug prevention, education, intervention and counseling services throughout south Alabama. Its annual luncheon is but one method the agency uses to spread its message about addiction and recovery, according to the event's organizers. 

The luncheon this year honored two Alabamians for their efforts in the fight against addiction. Marian Vineyard Cranford received the Watson Guy Award, and Ralph "Sonny" Middleton received the Treadwell Award. 

Cranford, who is originally from Mobile but now lives in Birmingham, received the Drug Education Council's Watson Guy Award for her decades of work as a counselor in the field of addiction, according to the agency's executive director, Virginia Guy. 

The Treadwell Award went to Middleton because, as an employer, he has exhibited a steadfast commitment to education and the treatment of substance abuse, according to Guy. Middleton's businesses include Dog River Marina. 

*Louis Gossett Jr. was charged on April 6, 1982 with possession of cocaine when his house was raided by police. Charges were later dropped.