David Alan Grier Joins ABC's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 30th Anniversary Special as Cogsworth

David Alan Grier has been cast as Cogsworth in ABC's upcoming animated and live-action blended special, "Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration." It is set to air on Thursday, December 15 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC and on Disney+ the next day.

Variety reports that Grier will join the previously announced H.E.R. in the role of Belle, Joshua Henry as Gaston, Josh Groban as the Beast, and Rita Moreno as the Narrator.

Wicked and In the Heights film director Jon M. Chu is set to executive produce the special and Hamish Hamilton is set to direct. Additional talented cast, whose performances will be seamlessly woven through the original feature film, will continue to be announced leading up to the production.

This year, 2022, marks the 30th anniversary of when Disney Animation's "Beauty and the Beast" became the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film went on to win the Golden Globe® Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, while the theme song "Beauty and the Beast" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1992.

"Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration" is produced by Done+Dusted in association with Walt Disney Television Alternative and Electric Somewhere. Executive producers are Jon M. Chu, Caitlin Foito, Hamish Hamilton, Raj Kapoor, Richard Kraft and Katy Mullan. Hamish Hamilton will serve as director. H.E.R. serves as a producer.

Countless theater, television, film and comedic endeavors have pushed David Alan Grier's career to remarkable heights and his ability to excel across all mediums and contexts is a testament to his inherent sense of comic timing and creative drive.

The Tony winner and GRAMMY Award nominee was trained in Shakespeare at Yale where he received an MFA from the Yale School of Drama. Grier has enjoyed many accolades and awards throughout his career, not the least of which was his inclusion on Comedy Central's list of the "100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time." On the big screen, David Alan Grier was recently seen starring in PEEPLES, produced by Tyler Perry, opposite Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson. Grier made his film debut in STREAMERS (1983), directed by Robert Altman for which he won the Golden Lion for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.

He also appeared in the Wayans Brothers' spoof movie DANCE FLICK (2009). Grier's television work is highlighted by a turn as principal cast member on the Emmy Award winning In Living Color (1990-1994) where he helped to create some of the show's most memorable characters, DAG (2000-2001) and Life with Bonnie (2003) which earned an Image and Golden Satellite nomination. David created, wrote and executive produced a show for Comedy Central called Chocolate News (2008).

Grier began his professional career on Broadway as Jackie Robinson in The First, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and won the Theatre World Award (1981). He then joined the cast of Dreamgirls before going on to star opposite Denzel Washington in A Soldier's Play, for which both actors reprised their roles in the film adaptation, A SOLDIER'S STORY (1984).

In 2009/2010 Grier starred in David Mamet's acclaimed play RACE opposite James Spader and Kerry Washington at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway for which he received his second Tony Award nomination. Grier received the third Tony Award nomination of his career in 2012 for his performance in the "stand-out role of the rakish, drug-dealing Sporting Life" (NY Times) in The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess. Grier received his first GRAMMY nomination when the cast recording of The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess received a 2013 GRAMMY Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album.

Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas