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Revision as of 22:05, 3 April 2008 by Connorr1919 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Bill Cosby | |
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| Birth name | William Henry Cosby, Jr. |
| Born | (1937-07-12) July 12, 1937 (age 87) Puddin Pop, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, film, television, print |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Genres | Observational comedy, Improvisational comedy, Physical comedy |
| Subject(s) | Childhood, Family, Parenting, Marriage, Aging, Everyday life |
| Spouse | Camille Hanks (1964 - present) (5 children) |
| Notable works and roles | Alexander Scott in I Spy Host and voices in Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids Himself in Bill Cosby: Himself Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable in The Cosby Show |
| Website | www.BillCosby.com |
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr., Ed.D. (born July 12 1937) is an American comedian, actor, television producer, activist, and luminary. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show, in the late 1960s. He was one of the major characters on the children's television show The Electric Company for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby also acted in numerous films, although none has received the acclaim of his television work.
During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in what is considered one of the decade's defining sitcoms, The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992. The sitcom featured an upper-middle class African-American family without resorting to the kinds of stereotypes previously seen among African-Americans in prime-time television. While some argued that The Cosby Show ignored the issues of racial inequity still prevalent in society, many agreed that it showcased positive role models.
Cosby was active in showbusiness in the 1990s, starring in Cosby, which first aired in 1996, and hosting Kids Say the Darndest Things, which began in 1998, as well as making more movies. He has also continued appearing on the stand-up circuit. His material consists mainly of anecdotal tales, often dealing with his upbringing and raising his own family, and he is known for having a clean, family-friendly routine.
His good-natured, fatherly image has made him a popular personality and earned him the nickname of "America's Dad", and he has also been a sought-after spokesman for products like Jello Pudding, and the defunct retail chain Service Merchandise.
Early life
Cosby was the captain of the baseball and track & field teams at Mary Channing Wister Elementary School in Philadelphia, as well as the class president.Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying. At Fitz-Simmons Junior High, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports. He went on to Central High School, an academically challenging magnet school, but his full schedule of playing football, basketball, baseball, and running track, not to mention his dedication to joking in class, made it hard for him. In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes, and stocking shelves at a supermarket to help out the family. He transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade. Instead of repeating, he got a job as an apprentice at a shoe repair shop, which he liked, but could not see himself doing the rest of his life. Subsequently, he joined the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
Cosby is a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
While serving in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman for four years, Cosby worked in physical therapy with some seriously injured Korean War casualties,Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
While many comics were using the growing freedom of that decade to explore controversial, sometimes risqué material, Cosby was making his reputation with humorous recollections of his childhood. Many Americans wondered about the absence of race as a topic in Cosby's stories. As Cosby's success grew he had to defend his choice of material regularly; as he argued, "A white person listens to my act and he laughs and he thinks, 'Yeah, that's the way I see it too.' Okay. He's white. I'm Negro. And we both see things the same way. That must mean that we are alike..... So After The Cosby Show went off the air in 1992, Cosby embarked on a number of other projects, including a notably scripted revival of the classic Groucho Marx game show You Bet Your Life (1992-1993) along with the ill-fated TV-movie I Spy Returns (1994) and The Cosby Mysteries (1994). In the mid 1990s, he appeared as a detective in black and white film noir-themed commercials for Turner Classic Movies. He also made appearances in three more films, Ghost Dad (1990), The Meteor Man (1993); and Jack (1996); in addition to being interviewed in Spike Lee's 4 Little Girls (1997), a documentary about the racist bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963. Also in 1996, he started up a new show for CBS, Cosby, again co-starring Phylicia Rashād, his onscreen wife on The Cosby Show (early on she replaced Telma Hopkins). Cosby co-produced the show for Carsey-Werner Productions. The show was based on a cynical British program called One Foot in the Grave, but Cosby lightened the humor. It centered on Cosby as Hilton Lucas, an iconoclastic senior citizen who tries to find a new job after being "downsized", and in the meantime, gets on his wife's nerves. Madeline Kahn costarred as Rashād's goofy business partner. Cosby was hired by CBS to be the official "spokesman" for the WWJ-TV during an advertising campaign from 1995-1998. In addition, Cosby in 1998 became the host of Kids Say the Darndest Things. After four solid seasons, Kids Say the Darndest Things was canceled. The last episode aired April 28 2000. Cosby continued to work with CBS through a development deal and other projects.
His wellspring of creativity became manifest again with a series for preschoolers, Little Bill, which made its debut on Nickelodeon in 1999. The network renewed the popular program in November 2000. In 2001, at an age when many give serious consideration to retirement, Cosby's agenda included the publication of a new book, as well as delivering the commencement addresses at Morris Brown College and at Ohio State University. Also that year, he signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop a live-action feature film centering on the popular [[Fat Albert
- William Morris Agency, retrieved May 31 2006
- "Transition Profile — Bill Cosby". Veterans Careers. Military.com. Retrieved 2007-05-31.