Bill Cosby

**William Henry Cosby Jr.** (; born July 12, 1937) is an American former stand-up comedian, actor, author, producer, musician, and activist. He was also a regular star of movies and television. He was known for creating and starring in _The Cosby Show_and _The Cosby Mysteries_.  He also created the teen sitcom _A Different World_.

In 2018, Cosby went to prison because of many sexual assault allegations. He got out of prison in 2021, because the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found that the justice system had made a mistake in the process of convicting him.

### Early life

Cosby was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at Temple University. Cosby was the class president and a captain of the baseball team.

### Career

He is the creator of such shows as Filmation's animated _Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids_, NBC's _The Cosby Show_ (in which he played a doctor named Heathcliff Huxtable) and Nick at Nite's _Fatherhood_ (with Blair Underwood). On television, he starred in the 1960s spy spoof _I Spy_, and has also advertised Jell-o and other products.

In 1983, Cosby released the concert film _Bill Cosby._ Cosby performed his first TV stand-up special in 30 years.

On the big screen, he appeared in _Leonard Part 6_ (1987), _Ghost Dad_ (1990), and _The Meteor Man_ (1993). On May 2, 2015, his last show of the "Far from Finished" tour was performed at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia. His last known standup performance before his conviction was held at the LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia on January 23, 2018. Bill Cosby was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

### Personal life

Cosby married Camille Hanks Cosby in 1964. Together, they have five children: Erika, Erinn, Ennis, Ensa and Evin. Cosby lives in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Cosbys have three grandchildren.

Since 2016, Cosby has been legally blind, as a result of keratoconus. Cosby and his wife have collected more than three hundred works of African-American art since 1967.

### Sexual assault charges

As of December 30, 2015, numerous civil lawsuits are active against Cosby, and he faces one felony charge of aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; a warrant was issued for his arrest. This charge is based on the 2005 allegations of a January 2004 incident. He was released on a $1 million dollar bail later that day.

In 2014, Cosby was set to release his new standup special _Bill Cosby 77_ on Netflix. The release of the film was canceled due to allegations of sexual assault against Cosby. Cosby's trial started on June 5, 2017. He was found guilty of three counts of assault on April 26, 2018, and was sentenced to 3–10 years in prison in late September 2018. He used lawyer Thomas Mesereau.

Cosby got out of prison on 30 June 2021, because the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found that the justice system had made a mistake in the process of convicting him. In 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to not hear the case about Cosby getting out of prison.

#### Comedy albums

- _Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right!_ (1963)
- _I Started Out as a Child_ (1964)
- _Why Is There Air?_ (1965)
- _Wonderfulness_ (1966)
- _Revenge_ (1967)
- _To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With_ (1968)
- _200 M.P.H._ (1968)
- _8:15 12:15_ (1969)
- _It's True! It's True!_ (1969)
- _Sports_ (1969)
- _Live: Madison Square Garden Center_ (1970)
- _When I Was a Kid_ (1971)
- _For Adults Only_ (1971)
- _Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs_ (1971)
- _Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby_ (1972)
- _Fat Albert_ (1973)
- _My Father Confused Me... What Must I Do? What Must I Do?_ (1977)
- _Bill's Best Friend_ (1978)
- _Bill Cosby: Himself_ (1982)
- _Those of You with or Without Children, You'll Understand_ (1986)
- _Oh, Baby!_ (1991)
- _Bill Cosby: Far from Finished_ (TV broadcast on November 23, 2013, Blu-ray, DVD, CD and digital distribution on November 26, 2013)

#### Music albums

- _Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings_ (1967)
- _Bill Cosby Sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band!_ (1968)
- _Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band_ (1971)
- _Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert_ – As master of ceremonies (Columbia, 1972)
- _Bill Cosby Presents Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral Marching Band_ (1972)
- _At Last Bill Cosby Really Sings_ (1974)
- _Bill Cosby Is Not Himself These Days_ (1976)
- _Disco Bill_ (1977)
- _Where You Lay Your Head_ (1990)
- _My Appreciation_ (1991)
- _Hello Friend: To Ennis, With Love_ (1997)
- _Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby – The Original Jam Sessions 1969_ (2004)
- _Quincy Jones & Bill Cosby – The New Mixes Vol. 1_ (2004)
- _State of Emergency_ (2009)
- _Keep Standing_ (2010)

#### Compilations

- _The Best of Bill Cosby_ (1969)
- _More of the Best of Bill Cosby_ (1970)
- _Bill_ (1973)
- _Down Under_ (1975)
- _Cosby and the Kids_ (1986)
- _At His Best_ (1994)
- _20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Bill Cosby_ (2001)
- _The Bill Cosby Collection_ (2004)
- _Icon_ (2011)

#### Singles

|rowspan="2"|Year|rowspan="2"|Single|colspan="2"|Chart Positions|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1967|"Little Ol' Man (Uptight—Everything's Alright)"|4|18|||
|1970|"Grover Henson Feels Forgotten"|70|—|||
|rowspan=2|1976|"I Luv Myself Better Than I Luv Myself"|—|59||
|"Yes, Yes, Yes"|46|11||||

### Filmography

|Year|Title|Role|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1965–1968|_I Spy_|Alexander Scott|TV series|
|1969|_Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice_|Patron at nightclub (uncredited)||
|1969|_Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert_|Bill / Fat Albert / Dumb Donald (voice)|TV movie|
|1969–1971|_The Bill Cosby Show_|Chet Kincaid|TV series|
|1971–1973|_The Electric Company_|Hank|TV series|
|1971|_Man and Boy_|Caleb Revers|TV movie|
|1971|_Aesop's Fables_|Aesop||
|1972|_The New Bill Cosby Show_|Host|TV series|
|1972–1984|_Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids_|"Fat" Albert Jackson (voice)|TV series|
|1972|_To All My Friends on Shore_|Blue|TV movie|
|1972|_Hickey & Boggs_|Al Hickey||
|1974|_Uptown Saturday Night_|Wardell Franklin||
|1974|_Journey Back to Oz_|The Wizard of Oz|TV version only|
|1975|_Let's Do It Again_|Billy Foster||
|1976|_Cos_|Host|TV series|
|1976|_Mother, Jugs & Speed_|Mother||
|1977|_A Piece of the Action_|Dave Anderson||
|1978|_Top Secret_|Aaron Strickland|TV movie|
|1978|_California Suite_|Dr. Willis Panama||
|1981|_The Devil and Max Devlin_|Barney Satin||
|1984–1992|_The Cosby Show_|Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable|TV series|
|1987|_Leonard Part 6_|Leonard Parker|Also producer and writer|
|1987|_Bill Cosby:49_|Himself|Live comedy concert film released on VHS|
|1987|_A Different World_|Dr. Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable|TV series|
|1990|_Ghost Dad_|Elliot Hopper||
|1992–1993|_You Bet Your Life_|Host|TV series|
|1993|_The Meteor Man_|Marvin||
|1994|_The Cosby Mysteries_|Guy Hanks|TV movie|
|1994–1995|_The Cosby Mysteries_|Guy Hanks|TV series|
|1994|_I Spy Returns_|Alexander Scott|TV movie|
|1996|_Jack_|Lawrence Woodruff||
|1996–2000|_Cosby_|Hilton Lucas|TV series|
|1998–2000|_Kids Say the Darndest Things_|Host|TV series|
|1999–2004|_Little Bill_|Captain Brainstorm (voice)|TV series|
|2002|_Sylvia's Path_|Voice|TV movie|
|2003|_Baadasssss!_|Himself||
|2004|_Fat Albert_|Himself||
|2009–2011|_OBKB_|Himself||
|2014|_Bill Cosby 77_|Himself||

## Awards and honors

- 1969: Received his third Man of the Year award from Harvard University's performance group the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
- 1991: Induction into the Television Hall of Fame.
- 1998: Received the Kennedy Center Honor.
- 2002: The Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to television
- 2002: The scholar Molefi Kete Asante included him in his book _The 100 Greatest African Americans_.
- 2003: The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
- 2005: In a British poll broadcast on Channel 4 to find the Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top-50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
- 2010: Received the Lone Sailor Award by the United States Navy Memorial.
- 2009: Presented with the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
- 2011: Made an honorary Chief Petty Officer (Hospital Corpsman) in the United States Navy. The Navy revoked this award on December 4, 2014.

### Honorary degrees

Cosby has been awarded at least 57 honorary degrees since 1985. Several of these honorary degrees have been rescinded due to allegations of sexual assault and/or immoral behavior:
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Boston University, May 18, 2014 (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Marquette University, May 19, 2013. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from The University of San Francisco, May 18, 2012. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Oberlin College, May 1, 2010. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, December 5, 2008.
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Carnegie Mellon University, May 20, 2007; he was also the keynote speaker for the commencement ceremony.
- Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, May 8, 2004. Cosby was also the host of the school's 60th Anniversary Concert in January 2006.
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Wilkes University, May 2004.(Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Baylor University, September 4, 2003, at the "Spirit Rally" for the Baylor and Central Texas communities. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Yale University, May 26, 2003.
- Honorary Degree in 2003 from Sisseton Wahpeton College for his contributions to minority education.
- Honorary Doctorate from West Chester University of Pennsylvania during the 2003 graduation ceremony.
- Honorary Doctorate from Paine College in 2003.
- Honorary Doctorate from Drew University during the 2002 graduation ceremony. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Haverford College, May 2002.
- Honorary Degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Cincinnati in 2001.
- Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Fordham University in 2001. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctorate from Goucher College, 2001. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Tufts University, 2000. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctorate from Amherst College, May 1999. (Doctor of Humane Letters, _honoris causa_) (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctorate from Colgate University, May 22, 1999; he was also the keynote speaker for the commencement ceremony.
- Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California, May 8, 1998.
- Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut, and served as the commencement speaker, May 18, 1996. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Swarthmore College, 1995. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 1992. (Rescinded)
- Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania, 1990. He also served as the commencement speaker in May 1997.
- Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Brown University, May 1985. (Rescinded)

## Infobox (comedian)

- **embed**: yes
- **medium**: Stand-up comedy, film, television
- **genre**: Observational comedy, satire, surreal humor, deadpan


## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Bill Cosby
- **image**: 2011 Bill Cosby.jpg
- **caption**: Cosby in 2011
- **birth name**: William Henry Cosby Jr.
- **birth place**: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- **occupation**: Actor, comedian, musician, author
- **years active**: 1961–2018
- **children**: 5, including Erika Cosby and Ennis Cosby