Bill Cosby William Henry " Bill " Cosby Jr . ( born July 12 , 1937 ) is an American comedian , actor , author , television producer , educator , musician and activist . A veteran stand - up performer , he got his start at the hungry i in San Francisco and various other clubs , then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show " I Spy " . He later starred in his own sitcom , " The Bill Cosby Show " . He was one of the major performers on the children ' s television series " The Electric Company " during its first two seasons , and created the educational cartoon comedy series " Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids " , about a group of young friends growing up in the city . Cosby also acted in a number of films . During the 1980s , Cosby produced and starred in one of the decade ' s defining sitcoms , " The Cosby Show " , which aired eight seasons from 1984 to 1992 . It was the number one show in America for five straight years ( 1985 – 89 ) . The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African - American family . He also produced the spin - off sitcom " A Different World " , which became second to " The Cosby Show " in ratings . He starred in the sitcom " Cosby " from 1996 to 2000 and hosted " Kids Say the Darndest Things " for two seasons . In 2002 , scholar Molefi Kete Asante included him in his book " The 100 Greatest African Americans " . In 1976 , Cosby earned a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst . His dissertation discussed the use of " Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids " as a teaching tool in elementary schools . Early life . Cosby was born on July 12 , 1937 and raised in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . He is one of four sons born to Anna Pearl ( née Hite ) , a maid , and William Henry Cosby Sr . , who served as a sailor in the U . S . Navy . During much of his early childhood , Cosby ' s father was away in the U . S . armed forces and spent several years fighting in World War II . As a student , he described himself as a class clown . Cosby was the captain of both the baseball team and the track and field team at Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia , as well as the class president . Early on , though , teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying . At FitzSimons Junior High School , Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports . He went on to Central High School , an academically challenging magnet school , but his full schedule of playing football , basketball , baseball , and running track 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 Corps Base Quantico , Virginia , Naval Station Argentia , Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland . While serving in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman for four years , Cosby worked in physical therapy with some seriously injured Korean War casualties . He finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses . He then won a track and field scholarship to Philadelphia ' s Temple University in 1961 – 62 , and studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the football team . As Cosby progressed through his undergraduate studies , he continued to hone his talent for humor , joking with fellow enlistees in the service and then with college friends . When he began bar tending 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 onto the stage . Stand - up career . Cosby left Temple to pursue a career in comedy , though he would return to collegiate studies in the 1970s . He lined up standup jobs at clubs in Philadelphia and soon was off to New York City , where he appeared at The Gaslight Cafe starting in 1962 . He lined up dates in Chicago , Las Vegas , San Francisco , Washington , D . C . , and elsewhere . He received national exposure on NBC ' s " The Tonight Show " in the summer of 1963 . This 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 popular comedy albums . While many comics were using the growing freedom of that decade to explore material that was controversial and sometimes risqué , 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 . Right ? " So I figure this way I ' m doing as much for good race relations as the next guy . " Cosby remains an actively touring stand - up comedian , performing at theaters throughout the United States . He performed his first TV standup special in 30 years , " Bill Cosby : Far From Finished " , on Comedy Central on November 23 , 2013 . Acting career . " I Spy " . In 1965 , when he was cast alongside Robert Culp in the " I Spy " espionage adventure series , Cosby became the first African - American co - star in a dramatic television series , and NBC became the first to present a series so cast . At first Cosby and NBC executives were concerned that some affiliates might be unwilling to carry the series . At the beginning of the 1965 season , four stations declined the show ; they were in Georgia , Florida , and Alabama . Viewers were taken with the show ' s exotic locales and the authentic chemistry between the stars , and it became one of the ratings hits of that television season . " I Spy " finished among the twenty most - watched shows that year , and Cosby would be honored with three consecutive Emmy Award s for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series . During the run of the series , Cosby continued to do stand - up comedy performances and recorded a half - dozen record albums for Warner Bros . Records . He also began to dabble in singing , recording " " in 1967 , which provided him with a hit single with his recording of " Li ' l Ole Man " . He would record several more musical albums into the early 1970s , but he continued to record primarily stand - up comedy work . In June 1968 , " Billboard " reported that Cosby had turned down a five - year , US $ 3 . 5 million contract renewal offer and would leave the label in August that year to record for his own record label . Tetragrammaton Records was a division of the Campbell , Silver , Cosby ( CSC ) Corporation , the Los Angeles based production company founded by Cosby , his manager Roy Silver , and filmmaker Bruce Post Campbell . It produced films as well as records , including Cosby ' s television specials , the Fat Albert cartoon special and series and several motion pictures . CSC hired industry veteran Artie Mogull as President of the label and Tetragrammaton was fairly active during 1968 – 69 ( its most successful signing was British heavy rock band Deep Purple ) but it quickly went into the red and ceased trading during 1970 . " Fat Albert " , " The Bill Cosby Show " , and the 1970s . Cosby pursued a variety of additional television projects and appeared as a regular guest host on " The Tonight Show " and as the star of an annual special for NBC . He returned with another series in 1969 , " The Bill Cosby Show " , a situation comedy that ran for two seasons . Cosby played a physical education teacher at a Los Angeles high school . While only a modest critical success , the show was a ratings hit , finishing eleventh in its first season . Cosby was lauded for using African - American performers such as Lillian Randolph , Moms Mabley , and Rex Ingram as characters . According to commentary on the Season 1 DVD ' s for the show , Cosby was at odds with NBC over his refusal to include a laugh track in the show ( he felt that viewers had the ability to find humor for themselves when watching a TV show ) . He was originally contracted with NBC to do the show for two seasons , and he believes the show was not renewed afterwards for that reason . After " The Bill Cosby Show " left the air , Cosby returned to his education . He began graduate work at the University of Massachusetts Amherst . For the PBS series " The Electric Company " , Cosby recorded several segments teaching reading skills to young children . In 1972 , Cosby received an MA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was also back in prime time with a variety series , " The New Bill Cosby Show " . However , this time he met with poor ratings , and the show lasted only a season . More successful was a Saturday morning show , " Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids " , hosted by Cosby and based on his own childhood . That series ran from 1972 to 1979 , and as " The New Fat Albert Show " in 1979 and " The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids " in 1984 . Some schools used the program as a teaching tool , and Cosby himself wrote a dissertation on it , " An Integration of the 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 , also from the University of Massachusetts . Subsequently , Temple University , where Cosby had begun but never finished his undergraduate studies , would grant him his bachelor ' s degree on the basis of " life experience . " Also during the 1970s , Cosby and other African - American actors , including Sidney Poitier , joined forces to make some successful comedy film s that countered the violent " blaxploitation " films of the era . " Uptown Saturday Night " ( 1974 ) and " Let ' s Do It Again " ( 1975 ) were generally praised , but much of Cosby ' s film work has fallen flat . " Mother , Jugs & Speed " ( 1976 ) , costarring Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel ; " A Piece of the Action " , with Poitier ; and " California Suite " , a compilation of four Neil Simon plays , were all panned . In addition , " Cos " ( 1976 ) an hour - long variety show featuring puppets , sketches , and musical numbers , was canceled within the year . It was during this season that ABC decided to take advantage of this phase of Cosby ' s career by associating with Filmation ( producers of " Fat Albert " ) in creating live - action segments starring Cosby for the 1964 / 1971 animated film " Journey Back to Oz " , which made its network premiere on Christmas 1976 , and aired subsequently in syndication . Cosby was also a regular on children ' s public television programs starting in the 1970s , hosting the " Picture Pages " segments that lasted into the early 1980s . These endeavors created a bridge in Cosby ' s career that led to his greatest success that would save a faltering television network from the ratings cellar . " The Cosby Show " and the 1980s . Cosby ' s greatest television success came 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 . For Cosby , the new situation comedy was a response to the increasingly violent and vulgar fare the networks usually offered . Cosby is an advocate for humor that is family - oriented . He insisted on and received total creative control of the series , and he was involved in every aspect of the series . The show had parallels to Cosby ' s actual family life : like the characters Cliff and Claire Huxtable , Cosby and his wife Camille were college educated , financially successful , and had five children . Essentially a throwback to the wholesome family situation comedy , " The Cosby Show " was unprecedented in its portrayal of an intelligent , affluent , African - American family . Much of the material from the pilot and first season of " The Cosby Show " was taken from his video " " , released in 1983 . The series was an immediate success , debuting near the top of the ratings and staying there for most of its long run . " The Cosby Show " is one of only three American programs that have been # 1 in the Nielsen ratings for at least five consecutive seasons , along with " All in the Family " and " American Idol . " " People " magazine called the show " revolutionary " , and " Newsday " concurred that it was a " real breakthrough . " In 1987 , Cosby attempted to return to film with the spy spoof " Leonard Part 6 " . Although Cosby himself was producer and wrote the story , he realized during production that the film was not going to be what he wanted and publicly denounced it , warning audiences to stay away . Cosby even went so far as to personally collect the Golden Raspberry Awards the film received on Joan Rivers ' late - night talk show . In the 1990s and 2000s . After " The Cosby Show " went off the air in 1992 , Cosby embarked on a number of other projects , including a revival of the classic Groucho Marx game show " You Bet Your Life " ( 1992 – 93 ) along with the TV - movie " I Spy Returns " ( 1994 ) and " The Cosby Mysteries " ( 1994 ) . In the mid - 1990s , he appeared as a detective in black - and - white film noir - themed commercials for Turner Classic Movies . He made appearances in three more films : " Ghost Dad " ( 1990 ) , " The Meteor Man " ( 1993 ) , and " Jack " ( 1996 ) . In addition , he was interviewed in Spike Lee ' s " 4 Little Girls " ( 1997 ) , a documentary about the 1963 racist bombing of a church in Birmingham , Alabama . Also in 1996 , he started up a new show for CBS , " Cosby " , again co - starring Phylicia Rashād , his onscreen wife on " The Cosby Show " . Cosby co - produced the show for Carsey - Werner Productions . The show was based on the British program " One Foot in the Grave " . It centered on Cosby as Hilton Lucas , an iconoclastic senior citizen who tries to find a new job after being downsized and , in the meantime , gets on his wife ' s nerves . Madeline Kahn costarred as Rashād ' s goofy business partner Pauline . Cosby was hired by CBS to be the official spokesman of the WWJ - TV during an advertising campaign from 1995 to 1998 . Cosby hosted a CBS special , " Kids Say the Darndest Things " on February 6 , 1995 , which was followed after as a full season show , with Cosby as host , from January 9 , 1998 to June 23 , 2000 . After four seasons , " Cosby " was canceled . Its last episode aired April 28 , 2000 . " Kids Say the Darndest Things " was terminated the same year , and Cosby continued to work with CBS through a development deal and other projects . In the summer of 2009 , Cosby hosted a comedy gala at Montreal ' s " Just for Laughs " , which is the largest comedy festival in the world . A new NBC show , scheduled for summer or autumn 2015 , created by Mike O ' Malley and Mike Sikowitz , is set to feature Cosby as Jonathan Franklin , the patriarch of a multi - generational family . Socioeconomic views . In May 2004 , after receiving an award at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary commemoration of the " Brown v . Board of Education " ruling — a ruling of the U . S . Supreme Court that outlawed racial segregation in schools — Cosby made public remarks critical of African Americans who put higher priorities on sports , fashion , and " acting hard " than on education , self - respect , and self - improvement , pleading for African - American families to educate their children on the many different aspects of American culture . In the " Pound Cake " speech , Cosby , who holds a doctorate in education , asked that African - American parents teach their children better morals at a younger age . Cosby told the " Washington Times " , " Parenting needs to come to the forefront . If you need help and you don ' t know how to parent , we want to be able to reach out and touch " ( DeBose , Brian ) . Richard Leiby of " The Washington Post " reported , " Bill Cosby was anything but politically correct in his remarks Monday night at a Constitution Hall bash commemorating the 50th anniversary of the " Brown v . Board of Education " decision . " Cosby again came under sharp criticism and was again largely unapologetic for his stance when he made similar remarks during a speech in a July 1 meeting commemorating the anniversary of " Brown v . Board of Education " . During that speech , he admonished apathetic blacks for not assisting or concerning themselves with the individuals who are involved with crime or have counter - productive aspirations . He further described those who needed attention as blacks who " had forgotten the sacrifices of those in the Civil Rights Movement . " The speech was featured in the documentary " 500 Years Later " , which set the speech to cartoon visuals . In 2005 , Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson wrote a book entitled " Is Bill Cosby Right ? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind ? " In the book , Dyson wrote that Cosby was overlooking larger social factors that reinforce poverty and associated crime ; factors such as deteriorating schools , stagnating wages , dramatic shifts in the economy , offshoring and downsizing , chronic underemployment , and job and capital flight . Dyson suggested that Cosby ' s comments " betray classist , elitist viewpoints rooted in generational warfare . " Cornel West defended Cosby and his remarks , saying , " he ' s speaking out of great compassion and trying to get folk to get on the right track , ' cause we ' ve got some brothers and sisters who are not doing the right things , just like in times in our own lives , we don ' t do the right thing . . . He is trying to speak honestly and freely and lovingly , and I think that ' s a very positive thing . " In a 2008 interview , Cosby mentioned Atlanta , Georgia ; Chicago , Illinois ; Detroit , Michigan ; Oakland , California ; Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; and Springfield , Massachusetts , among the cities where crime was high and young African - American men were being murdered and jailed in disproportionate numbers . Cosby stood his ground against criticism and affirmed that African - American parents were continuing to fail to inculcate proper standards of moral behavior . Cosby still lectures to black communities ( usually at churches ) about his frustrations with certain problems prevalent in underprivileged urban communities , such as illegal drugs ; teenage pregnancy ; Black Entertainment Television ; high - school dropouts ; anti - intellectualism ; gangsta rap ; vulgarity ; thievery ; offensive clothing ; vanity ; parental alienation ; single - parenting ; and failing to live up to the ideals of Frederick Douglass , Martin Luther King , Jr . , and African - Americans who preceded Generation X . Cosby has also been openly critical of conservative Republican politicians in regards to their views on socioeconomic and racial issues . In a 2013 CNN interview regarding voting rights , Cosby stated " this Republican Party is not the Republican Party of 1863 , of Abraham Lincoln , abolitionists and slavery , is not good . I think it ' s important for us to look at the underlying part of it . What is the value of it ? Is it that some people are angry because my people no longer want to work for free ? " Humanitarian causes . Cosby has become an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America . Cosby became involved with the foundation in 2004 . For several years , he has been a featured host for its annual benefit , A Great Night in Harlem , at the Apollo Theater in New York City . Personal life . Cosby met his future wife , Camille Olivia Hanks , while he was performing stand - up in Washington , D . C . , in the early 1960s , when she was a student at the University of Maryland . They married on January 25 , 1964 , and had five children : four daughters Erika Ranee ( b . 1965 ) , Erinn Chalene ( b . 1966 ) , Ensa Camille ( b . 1973 ) , and Evin Harrah ( b . 1976 ) , and a son Ennis William ( 1969 – 1997 ) . Their son Ennis was murdered on January 16 , 1997 while changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles . In addition to his five children , Cosby has three grandchildren through his two youngest daughters . Cosby is a Protestant Christian . Cosby maintains homes in Shelburne , Massachusetts , and Cheltenham , Pennsylvania . Cosby has hosted the Los Angeles Playboy Jazz Festival since 1979 . An avid musician , he ' s best known as a jazz drummer , although he can be seen playing bass guitar with Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis , Jr . on Hugh Hefner ' s 1970s talk show . His story " The Regular Way " was featured in Playboy ' s December 1968 issue . Cosby is an active alumnus supporter of his alma mater , Temple University , and in particular its men ' s basketball team , whose games Cosby frequently attends . He is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity . He was initiated in the fraternity ' s Beta Alpha Alpha graduate chapter in White Plains , New York , in 1988 . Cosby also attends many public events , such as the 100th Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York City on February 2 , 2007 . His love for track and field athletics has also been shown with his long - time sponsorship and on - track work with the Penn Relays . For many years , Cosby has been known to work the finish line at Franklin Field and congratulate athletes . During the 2009 NFL Draft , he celebrated the draft with former Texas Longhorns wide receiver Quan Cosby as a means of support , though the two are not related . Lawsuits . In July 1997 , Cosby testified that he made private payments to Shawn Upshaw , a woman who had briefly been his lover in Las Vegas during the early 1970s . Upshaw later told Cosby that her daughter , Autumn Jackson , was his daughter , too , but he denied it . Cosby said he gave Upshaw a total of about $ 100 , 000 because he did not want her to publicly reveal the affair . Twenty - two - year - old Autumn Jackson was sentenced to 26 months in jail for trying to extort $ 40 million from Cosby . In November 2006 , Cosby settled a lawsuit filed by a Canadian woman who said he had drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Philadelphia home in 2004 . Awards and honors . Honorary degrees . Cosby has received honorary degrees from more than a dozen colleges and universities :