Chadwick Boseman played icons ? and then became one

SectionsTVFeaturedMore from NBC Follow NBC News Few young actors working in American movies today have the gravitas to play a fabled baseball god or an exalted R&B singer or a future Supreme Court justice or the honorable king of Wakanda.But in the span of just seven years, Chadwick Boseman played all those roles and more, cementing his status as one of the most magnetic screen performers of his generation and — with the era-defining superhero smash "Black Panther" — rocketing to international fame.Boseman, 43, died Friday after a four-year battle with colon cancer."He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side," a statement posted on his official Instagram and Twitter accounts said. "Even if it’s a white person who sees it, if they can see a Black character and identify with them, it changes a little bit about how our society is."When the movie won best cast in a film at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January 2019, the actor took the stage and delivered one of the most memorable acceptance speeches in recent memory."Well, I’ll be," Boseman said as he arrived on stage with his castmates, a group that included Michael B.