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William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr., Ed.D (born
July 12, 1937) is an American actor, comedian, television producer and
activist.
Bill Cosby is one of the United States' most popular and admired
entertainers, known for his wit and warmth both onstage and off. A veteran
stand-up performer, he got his start working clubs and making comedy albums,
then moved into television with a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I
Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show, in the early
1970s, 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.
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During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in one of the decade's defining
cultural products, The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992 and
featured a middle-class African American family without resorting to the
kinds of vulgar stereotypes previously seen among African American
characters in prime-time television. Though some argued that The Cosby Show
ignored the issues of racial inequity still prevalent in society, others
maintained that it showcased positive role models.
The late 1990s brought trouble for Cosby, first in early 1997 with the death
of his only son, Ennis, who was shot to death on a Los Angeles freeway in a
random act of violence. Also that year, he was dragged into a court case
that involved a young woman who was charged with extortion in claiming that
he was her biological father-a shocking accusation that Cosby denied. Cosby
admitted to having a one-time affair with the woman's mother. Despite these
personal setbacks, Cosby did not slow down at all 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, delighting audiences with his gentle,
paternal brand of comedy. 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, kid-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 Jell-O
Pudding and Coca-Cola.
William Henry Cosby, Jr., was born on July 12, 1937, in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Cosby's mother, Anna Cosby, worked as a housekeeper, sometimes
as many as 12 hours a day, and when Cosby was eight, his father, William
Henry Cosby, joined the U.S. Navy and served as a mess steward,which meant
he was away from home for months at a stretch. Cosby was thus often left in
charge of his younger brothers, Russell and Richard (another younger brother,
James, died at age six of rheumatic fever . Despite all the hard work, his
family's finances suffered, and they were forced to sell their home and move
to a smaller house, then into the Richard Allen housing project in the
Germantown district of North Philadelphia. Although the neighborhood was
rough, Cosby's mother provided a firm moral ground for her sons by reading
to them from the Bible and authors such as Mark Twain. However, he also
enjoyed the serial radio programs of the time, such as The Lone Ranger, The
Shadow, Lights Out, and the humor of Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Fred Allen,
and George Burns with Gracie Allen.
In school, Cosby was bright and athletic, the captain of the baseball and
track teams at Mary Channing Wister Elementary School as well as 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, which was known to be academically challenging, 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 base at Quantico,
Virginia and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
While serving in th Navy medical corps for four years, Cosby worked in
physical therapy with some seriously injured Korean War casualties, which
helped him discover what was important to him. He immediately realized the
need for an education, and finished his equivalency diploma via
correspondence courses. He then won a track and field scholarship to
Philadelphia's Temple University in 1961, and studied physical education
while running track and playing right halfback on the football team. However,
he had continued to hone his talent for humor, joking with fellow enlistees
in the service and then with college friends. When he began tending bar at
the Cellar, a club in Philadelphia, to earn money, he became fully aware of
his ability to make people laugh. He worked his customers and saw his tips
increase, then ventured on to the stage.
Cosby left Temple as a sophomore to pursue a career in comedy. His parents
were not pleased, but he lined up gigs at clubs in Philadelphia and soon was
off to New York City, where he appeared at the Gaslight Cafe starting in
1962. Later, the university would grant him his bachelor's degree on the
basis of "life experience." Cosby's career took off quickly, and he lined up
dates in Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington DC, among others.
He received national exposure on NBC's Tonight Show in the summer of 1963
and released, Very Funny Fellow ... Right!, the first of a series of popular
comedy albums in 1964.
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 I figure I'm doing as much for
good race relations as the next guy. |
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