Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with eight-year-old daughter when he drowned

Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his eight-year-old daughter when he drowned in Costa Rica. 

Warner, who as a teenager played Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, died at 54 in an accidental drowning, local authorities said Monday. 

Two surfers noticed the actor and his daughter struggling in the water and jumped into action, as reported by ABC News. 

One of the surfers put Warner’s daughter on his board and took her to safety, before a volunteer lifeguard also tried to help the actor.

Volunteer lifeguard Mike Geist told AZ Family he and another surfer rushed in.

The volunteers found Warner below the surface, near the ocean floor, Geist said. The surfer then pulled the actor to the surface and started rescue efforts. 

When Warner did not respond, they pulled him from the water and got additional help.

‘There were two doctors that were also here just on vacation,’ Geist said.

Cosby Show star Malcolm-Jamal Warner was swimming with his eight-year-old daughter when he drowned in Costa Rica. Pictured: Warner with his daughter as a toddler

 Warner, who as teenage son Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, died at 54 in an accidental drowning in Costa Rica, authorities there said Monday. Pictured: Warner and his daughter in 2020

‘Between the three of them, they were able to perform CPR for more than 30 minutes, probably more like 45 minutes, and unfortunately, it was not successful.’

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Department said Warner drowned Sunday afternoon on a beach on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. 

He was swimming at Playa Cocles in Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean. 

Local officials ruled Warner’s cause of death as asphyxiation by submersion. 

Following Warner’s shock death, lifeguards from Playa Grande — a beach community located on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica — released a statement saying they were not present due to lack of ‘resources.’

‘We deeply regret the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner at Playa Grande. He was swept away by a strong rip current and died by drowning,’ the Caribbean Guard, Costa Rica’s volunteer lifeguard association, shared via Facebook on Monday.

‘It all happened very quickly, and although there were people on the beach who entered the water to rescue him, they did not arrive in time.’

‘He was pulled from underwater without vital signs, and despite CPR maneuvers being performed on the beach, resuscitation was unsuccessful.’

Volunteer lifeguard Mike Geist recalled the moment he and a volunteer lifeguard found Cosby Show actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner below the surface, near the floor of the ocean

The Costa Rican National Police reported that Warner’s body was discovered near Cocles, a beach in the Limon province (Playa Cocles pictured above)

The Guard added that Playa Grande is one of their ‘most challenging beaches,’ noting the presence of signs in English and Spanish that warn of the ‘danger of death due to drowning.’

Warner worked for more than 40 years as an actor and director, also starring in the sitcoms Malcolm & Eddie and Read Between the Lines, and in the medical drama The Resident.

His final credits came in TV guest roles, including a dramatic four-episode arc last year on the network procedural 9-1-1, where he played a nurse who was a long-term survivor of a terrible fire.

Warner played Theo Huxtable for eight seasons, appearing in each of the 197 episodes of The Cosby Show and earning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986. 

The actor created many TV moments etched in the memories of Generation X children and their parents, including a pilot-episode argument with Cosby about grades and careers, and another episode where Theo tries in vain to hide his ear piercing from his dad.

The actor, best known for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the beloved NBC sitcom, appeared in all eight seasons from 1984 to 1992 (seen in 2006)

Theo was the only son among four daughters in the household of Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad’s Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom, and he would be one of the prime representations of American teenage life and Black boyhood on a show that was the most popular in America for much of its run from 1984 to 1992. 

Warner is survived by his wife and young daughter, born in 2017. Their identities have not been revealed.