<P> Howard Ellsworth Rollins Jr . ( October 17 , 1950 -- December 8 , 1996 ) was an American stage , film and television actor . Howard Rollins was best known for his role as Andrew Young in 1978 's King , George Haley in the 1979 miniseries Roots : The Next Generations , Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the 1981 film Ragtime , Captain Davenport in the 1984 film A Soldier 's Story , and as Virgil Tibbs on the crime drama In the Heat of the Night . </P>
who played tibbs on in the heat of the night
Howard Ellsworth Rollins Jr .