Acting vet Louis Gossett Jr. has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The Academy Award-winning actor – who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as barking Navy officer who whips Richard Gere into shape in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman – is undergoing intensive treatment after learning he is suffering from the early stages of the deadly disease.

Gossett, 74, says he’s speaking out about his health struggles to show other African-American men the power of early detection.

“I want to set an example for the large number of African-American men who are victims of this disease because of the comparatively low emphasis in our community on preventive examinations and early treatment. I want to influence them to seek, as I have, the fine medical care and early detection now available,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “I count this diagnosis among the many challenges I have faced in my life and overcome. I expect this to be no different.”

Gossett’s autobiography, An Actor and a Gentleman, is set for release on May 17.