Stand-up comedian, actor, author, and activist. William Henry “Bill” Cosby Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After failing the 10th grade due to too much class clowning, Cosby later earned his equivalency diploma and was awarded a track scholarship to Temple University. While bartending at a Philadelphia club to earn money, he used his ability to make people laugh on his customers and saw his tips increase.
Cosby left Temple to pursue a career in comedy, receiving his first national exposure on NBC’s The Tonight Show in 1963, which led to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, who, in 1964, released his debut LP Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow…Right!, the first of a series of comedy albums dealing with his specialty – childhood recollections. The family themes were universal and Bill Cosby was a hit.
TV came knocking in 1965 the form of a co-starring role on the 1960s espionage show I Spy. Working with white actor Robert Culp, it was the first black and white television duo and initially stations in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama refused to air it. Regardless, Cosby won 3 consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
During this period Cosby recorded 6 comedy albums and also sang. In 1967 he had a hit record, Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything’s Alright), selling over a million copies. In 1968 Cosby left Warner Brothers to record on his own label, turning down a five-year, $3.5 million renewal contract in the process.
Tetragrammaton Records was founded by Cosby, his manager Roy Silver, and filmmaker Bruce Post Campbell. It signed British heavy rock group, Deep Purple and cranked out some films, records, Cosby’s television specials and a Fat Albert cartoon special before folding in 1970.
Cosby returned to TV in 1969 with The Bill Cosby Show, with Cosby playing a PE coach. The show featured veteran black performers Lillian Randolph, Moms Mabley, and Rex Ingram, but only lasted two seasons. Cosby blamed that shortness on his dispute with NBC about use of a laugh track which he refused to use.
After The Bill Cosby Show left the air, Cosby was a regular for two seasons on the PBS series The Electric Company.
In 1972, he came back with a variety series, The New Bill Cosby Show. It lasted one season, but his simultaneous offering on Saturday morning show, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, based on Cosby’s specialty – childhood recollections. It was a hit and some schools use it as a learning tool. This gave his honors and degrees not based on academic achievement, but life experience.
Bill Cosby made movies. Some were good (Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and Let’s Do It Again (1975) with Sidney Poitier. Some were mediocre (Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), costarring Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel; A Piece of the Action and California Suite). Others were just plain lousy (Leonard Part 6 {Cosby even told people not to go}, Ghost Dad). Back to TV, where in 1976 he did Cos, an hour-long variety show that barely lasted a season. Family projects for ABC filled the gaps until he struck gold in 1984 with the revolutionary sitcom, The Cosby Show, depicting a rich black family. It became the highest rated sitcom of all time and was one of only 3 shows to ever rank #1 for 5 consecutive seasons. Bill Cosby became known as “America’s Dad”.
While the iron was hot Cosby produced the Cosby Show spin-off sitcom A Different World. In 1992 when The Cosby Show went off the air, Bill Cosby went into overdrive with a revival of the Groucho Marx game show You Bet Your Life (1992–93), the TV-movie I Spy Returns (1994) and The Cosby Mysteries (1994). From 1996 to 2000 he starred in the sitcom Cosby and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things from 1998 to 2000. Not to mention, Little Bill, for Nickelodeon in 1999.
May 2004, Bill Cosby became an activist. While receiving an award at Constitution Hall, Cosby made remarks critical to modern black culture and its priorities and lack thereof. He called for more parental responsibility. A lot of blacks were offended and he faced harsh criticism, which lingered.
In October 2014, comedian Hannibal Buress’ criticized Cosby for “talking down” to young black men and capped it off by saying “you rape women”. That went viral resulting in a media firestorm and leading to a turn of public opinion about “America’s Dad”
A new NBC show for Cosby scheduled for 2015 was scrapped. TV Land pulled reruns of The Cosby Show due to accusations by over 40 women of drug facilitated sexual assault. During this period Cosby maintained his innocence (despite mounting evidence of guilt) and remained active as a touring stand-up comedian performing at theaters throughout the United States.
By Darryl ‘D’ Militant’ Littleton
