Bill Cosby
Category: American Entertainers
He was born as William “Bill” Cosby, Jr. on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia to
Anna Pearl, a maid, and William Cosby Sr. a United States Navy Sailor who
fought in the World War II.
Bill is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator,
musician and activist. He is worth USD450 million.
Bill Cosby, Jr. was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along his four
brothers by Ann Pearl.
As a veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then
landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, “I Spy”
When Cosby was at Mary Channing Wister public school in Philadelphia, he was
the captain of the baseball team and the track and field team as well as his
class president.
At Fitz Simmons Junior High School, he began acting in plays as well as
continuing his devotion to playing sports.
He went on to Central High School, but his full schedule of playing football,
basketball, and running track made it hard for him.
Working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes, and stocking
shelves at a supermarket made him a favorite in his family as he used his
earnings to support his family.
He later 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. He
later joined the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia,
Naval Station Argentina; Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in
Maryland.
He worked four years in the physical therapy as a Hospital corpsman helping
seriously injured Korean War casualties.
Cosby won a track and field scholarship to Philadelphia’s Temple University in
1961 to 1962 where he studied Physical Education.
As an undergraduate student he developed his talent for humor, joking with
fellow enlistees in the service and then with college friends.
He took up a bar tending job at the Cellar, a club in Philadelphia. Then he
left the Temple University to pursue a career in comedy, though he returned to
collegiate studies in the 70’s.
Bill lined up gigs at clubs in Philadelphia and was soon off to New York City
where he appeared at the Gaslight Café in 1962. He received national exposure
on NBC’s, “The Tonight Show” in the summer of 1963 which led to a recording
contract with Warner Bros Records and he released his debut LP, “Bill Cosby is
a Very Funny Fellow…Right!” in 1964.
In 1965 he casted alongside Robert in the “I Spy” espionage adventure series,
making him the first African-American co-star in a dramatic television series.
“I Spy” finished among the twenty most-watched shows that year, and Cosby was
honored with three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a
Drama series.
Later appeared as a regular guest host on “The Tonight Show” in 1969, The Bill
Cosby Show ran for two seasons where he played a physical education teacher at
a Los Angeles High School.
After “The Cosby Show” left the air, Cosby returned to his education. He began
a graduate work at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, qualifying under a
special program that allowed for the admission of students who had not
completed their bachelor’s degrees, but who had a significant impact on
society and/or their communities through their careers.
In 1972 he received an MA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and
came back with a variety series, “The New Bill Cosby Show” but the show lasted
only a season.
He later started a Saturday morning show, “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”
hosted by Cosby and based on his own childhood. The series ran from 1972 to
1979, then the “New Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” ran from 1979 to 1984.
Some schools used his program as a teaching tool and he wrote a dissertation
on it titled, “An Integration of Visual Media via ‘Fat Albert and the Cosby
Kids’ Into the Elementary School Curriculum as a Teaching Aid and Vehicle to
Achieve Increased Learning” as partial fulfillment of obtaining his 1976
doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts.
Cosby collaborated with other Africa- American actors like Sidney Poitier to
make comedy films like “Uptown Saturday Night” (1974) and “Let’s Do It Again”
(1975). He did “Mother, Jugs & Speed” in 1976 co-starring Raquel Welch and
Harvey Keitel. He produced, “A Piece of the Action” with Poitier; and
California Suite.
He was regular on children’s public television programs starting in 1970s,
hosting the, “Picture Pages” segments that lasted into the early 1980s.
He released a video, “Bill Cosby: Himself” in 1983. The Cosby Show is one of
the only three American programs that have been No. 1 in the Nielson ratings
for at least five consecutive seasons, along with ‘All in the Family’ and
‘American Idol’.
His greatest TV series was in September 1984 with the debut of “The Cosby
Show”. The program aired weekly on NBC and went on to become the highest
ranking sitcom of all time.
After “The Cosby Show” went off air in 1992, Cosby embarked on other projects
including the revival of the classic, “Groucho Marx” game show, “You Bet Your
Life” (1992-1993), TV- Movie, “I Spy Returns” (1994), The Cosby Mysteries
(1994)
He appeared as a detective in three films, “Ghost Dad” (1990), “The Meteor
Man” (1993) and “Jack” (1996)
In 1996, he started a new show for CBS, Cosby, co-starred with Phylicia Rashad
on the Cosby Show. He produced the show for Casey- Werner productions.
He became the host of “Kids Say the Damndest Things” in 1998, it lasted for
four seasons, ending on April 28, 2000.
In 2001 he signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to develop a live action
feature film centering on the popular, “Fat Albert” character from his 1970s
cartoon series. Fat Albert was released in theaters in
December 2004.
After “Fat Albert” release in 2004 he became an active member of the Jazz
Foundation of America.
He met his wife Camille Hanks Cosby while performing stand-up in Washington,
D.C in the early 1960s; she was a student at the University of Maryland. They
married on January 25, 1964 and have five children.
His children are: Erika Renee, female born in 1965, Erin Charlene, female,
born in 1966, Ennis William Cosby, his only son was born in 1969, he was shot
dead while changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles
on January 16, 1997. His other children are Ensa Camille, female, born in 1975
and Ervin Harrah Cosby, female, born in 1976.
He maintains homes in Shelburne, Massachusetts, Cheltenham and
Pennsylvania.
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Awards and Honors
- Man of the Year, 1969 by Harvard University’s Performance Group, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals
- Kennedy Center Honor, 1998
- Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, 2002
- Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, 2003
- Honorary Chief Petty Officer (Hospital Corpsman), 2011
Primetime Emmys, 1966-1969
Grammy Won
- Best Comedy Performance
- Started out as a child, 1965
- Why is there Air?, 1966
- Wonderfulness, 1967
- Revenge, 1968
- To Russell, My Brother, Whom I slept With, 1969
- Sorts, 1970
- Those of You With or Without Children, You’ll Understand, 1987
- Best recording for children- Grammy Awards
- Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs, 1972
- The Electric Company (Cast member), 1971
- “A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice”
- “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure”
- “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody”
- “Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry”
- “People can be more forgiving than you can imagine. But you have to forgive yourself. Let go of what's bitter and move on”
- “Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home”
- “Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing”
- “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it”
- “Women don't want to hear what you think. Women want to hear what they think - in a deeper voice”
- “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it”
- “Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope”
- “Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don't believe the kids should be given homework”
- “You know the only people who are always sure about the proper way to raise children? Those who've never had any”
- “You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it”
- “Even though your kids will consistently do the exact opposite of what you're telling them to do, you have to keep loving them just as much”
- “No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal”
- “Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit”
- “Let us now set forth one of the fundamental truths about marriage: the wife is in charge”
- “A new father quickly learns that his child invariably comes to the bathroom at precisely the times when he's in there, as if he needed company. The only way for this father to be certain of bathroom privacy is to shave at the gas station”
- “There is hope for the future because God has a sense of humor and we are funny to God”
Website: www.billcosby.com
References
Wikipedia
Bio.TRUE STORY
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