Bill Cosby Biography

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 risqu� 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.

BILL COSBY PICTURES

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BILL COSBY BIOGRAPHY