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Bill Cobbs

 
Actor: Bill Cobbs
  • Born: Jun 16, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: The Brother from Another Planet, The Bodyguard, Random Hearts
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

Biography

Character actor Bill Cobbs began his acting career relatively late in life after working odd jobs in Cleveland, OH. At the age of 36, he moved to New York and joined the Negro Ensemble Company, making his Broadway debut in First Breeze of Summer. His film career started in the late '70s with small film roles and guest appearances on television. In the early '80s, he worked on several performances for the NBC Live Theatre series and a PBS anthology with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Usually cast as the token old black man dispensing words of wisdom, Cobbs' weathered-yet-honest looks got him several guest spots on TV shows from Good Times to The West Wing. He did end up with a few reoccurring roles on sitcoms like The Slap Maxwell Story, The Gregory Hines Show, and The Michael Richards Show. He even had a part in The Others, the NBC sci-fi drama answer to The X-Files. Perhaps his most memorable television appearance is his role as Regina Taylor's father on I'll Fly Away as well as in the TV movie version I'll Fly Away: Then and Now. Throughout his film career, he has built a long list of credits playing kindly fathers, grandfathers, and even Moses (in The Hudsucker Proxy). He was Whitney Houston's manager in The Bodyguard, an old man in New Jack City, and Grandpa Booker in The People Under the Stairs. Though he appears in nearly all genres of Hollywood films, he occasionally gets meatier roles in made-for-TV dramas like Carolina Skeletons, Nightjohn, and Always Outnumbered. In 2002, he played wisened elders in Sunshine State, Enough, and Sweet Deadly Dreams. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
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Bill Cobbs
Born William Cobbs
June 16, 1934 (1934-06-16) (age 75)
Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Wilbert "Bill" Cobbs (born June 16, 1934) is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 120 television programs and movies.

Cobbs was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a domestic worker mother and a father who worked in construction.[1] He was a part of the Negro Ensemble Company. Cobbs has appeared and been a regular on many television programs including: The Michael Richards Show, The Outer Limits, I'll Fly Away, Yes, Dear, The Sopranos, The Others, JAG, The Drew Carey Show, October Road, and many more.

Bill is a second cousin of the late African-American actor and Song of the South star James Baskett.

In 2006, Cobbs played a supporting role in Night at the Museum as Reginald, a security guard on the verge of retirement. He also played basketball coach and retired basketball player Arthur Chaney in Disney's Air Bud, and Medgar Evers' older brother Charles Evers in Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi. He had a pivotal role in the Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy, and played a jazz pianist in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do.

He recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Ice-T's autobiography.

Filmography

References

External links


 
 
Learn More
Fathers & Sons: The Outer Limits (TV Episode) (1999 Science Fiction TV Episode)
Always Outnumbered (1998 Drama Film)
The Match Game: ER (TV Episode) (1996 Drama TV Episode)

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Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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