Malcolm-Jamal Warner: Cosby Show actor dies in Costa Rica drowning accident

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played the teenage son Theo Huxtable on the iconic TV series The Cosby Show, has passed away aged 54.

Costa Rican authorities reported that he drowned on Sunday afternoon after being caught in a strong current while swimming at Playa Cocles beach during a family holiday.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” the department’s initial report said but first responders from the Red Cross found him without vital signs and he was taken to the morgue.

Warner was celebrated for his role as the only son in the Huxtable family on the NBC sitcom, becoming a significant symbol of American teenage boyhood throughout the show’s run from 1984 to 1992.

He played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly botched mock designer shirt sewed by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

- With AP