Bill Cosby
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This article is about the comedian. For the British governor of New York, see William Cosby.
| Bill Cosby | |
|---|---|
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Cosby in February 2010
| |
| Born | William Henry Cosby, Jr. July 12, 1937 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, author, producer, activist |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Notable work(s) | I Spy The Electric Company The Bill Cosby Show Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids The Cosby Show Cosby The Cosby Mysteries |
| Spouse(s) | Camille Hanks Cosby |
| Children | Ennis William Cosby Ensa Camille Cosby Erinn Chalene Cosby Erika Ranee Cosby Evin Harrah Cosby |
| Website | |
| www | |
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and activist. Cosby's start in stand-up began at the hungry i inSan Francisco which was followed by landing a starring role in the 1960s show I Spy. During its first two seasons, he was a regular on the children's television seriesThe Electric Company. Cosby is known for creating the cartoon comedy series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in an urban area. Cosby has also been a film actor.
Beginning in the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in a sitcom, The Cosby Show; the show aired from 1984 to 1992 and was rated as the number one show in America for five years, 1984 through 1989.[1] The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family. He produced the Cosby Showspin-off sitcom A Different World. He starred in the sitcom Cosby from 1996 to 2000 and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things for two seasons, from 1998-2000.
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.
Contents
[hide]Early life
Cosby was born on July 12, 1937[2] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[3] He is one of four sons born to Anna Pearl (née Hite), a maid, and William Henry Cosby Sr., who served as a cook in the U.S. Navy.[3][4] During much of Cosby's early childhood, his father was away in the U.S. armed forces, spending 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.[5] Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying.[6] At FitzSimons Junior High School, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports.[7] He went on to Philadelphia's Central High School, a magnet and university prep school.[7] In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes, and stocking shelves at a supermarket to help out the family.[7] He transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade.[8] 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.[7] Subsequently, he joined the Navy, serving at theMarine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.[9] During his four years in the Navy, Cosby served as aHospital Corpsman working in physical therapy with Navy and Marine Corps personnel injured during the Korean War.[9]
He finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses[10] and was awarded a track and field scholarship to Philadelphia's Temple University in 1961.[11] There, he studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the university's football team.[citation needed]
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 a Philadelphia club to earn money, he became more aware of his ability to make people laugh. After using humor on his customers and seeing his tips increase, he then took his talent to the stage.[12]
Stand-up career
Cosby left Temple to pursue a career in comedy, lining up standup jobs at clubs first in Philadelphia and then in New York City, where he appeared at The Gaslight Cafe beginning in 1962.[7] He booked dates in cities such as Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.. 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 comedy albums.[citation needed]
While many comics of the time 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."[13]
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.[14]
Acting career
 | This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2014) |
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.[citation needed] 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 Spyfinished among the twenty most-watched shows that year, and Cosby would be honored with three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.[citation needed]
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 Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings in 1967, which provided him with a hit single with his recording of "Li'l Ole Man".[citation needed] He would record several more musical albums into the early 1970s, but he continued to record primarily stand-up comedy work.[citation needed]
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.[15]
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.[16]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] Some schools used the program as a teaching tool,[citation needed] 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.[7][17] 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."[18]
Also during the 1970s, Cosby and other African-American actors, including Sidney Poitier, joined forces to make some successful comedy films 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.[citation needed]
The Cosby Show and the 1980s
See also: Bill Cosby in advertising
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.[citation needed] For Cosby, the new situation comedy was a response to the increasingly violent and vulgar fare the networks usually offered.[citation needed] 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 wifeCamille 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.[citation needed]
Much of the material from the pilot and first season of The Cosby Show was taken from his video Bill Cosby: Himself, 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",[citation needed] and Newsday concurred that it was a "real breakthrough."[citation needed]
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.[19] Cosby even went so far as to personally collect the Golden Raspberry Awards the film received on Joan Rivers' late-night talk show.[citation needed]
1990s and 2000s
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After The Cosby Show went off the air in 1992, Cosby embarked on a number of other projects, including a revival of the classicGroucho 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 inSpike Lee's 4 Little Girls (1997), a documentary about the 1963 racist bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.[20]
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.[citation needed]
A series for preschoolers, Little Bill, made its debut on Nickelodeon in 1999. The network renewed the popular program in November 2000. In 2001, Cosby's agenda included the publication of a new book, as well as delivering the commencement addresses at Morris Brown College, Ohio State University, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[21]Also that year, 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. In May 2007 he spoke at the Commencement of High Point University.[citation needed]
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.[22]
2010s
A new NBC show, scheduled for summer or autumn 2015, created by Mike O'Malley and Mike Sikowitz and to have been produced by The Cosby Show's Tom Werner, was set to feature Cosby as Jonathan Franklin, the patriarch of a multi-generational family.[23] On November 19, 2014, NBC scrapped Cosby's new show after accusations that he sexually assaulted women resurfaced.[24] On the same day, TV Land announced in November that it was pulling reruns of The Cosby Show from its schedule and also removed clips of the show from its website.[25]
Two days earlier, on November 17, 2014, Netflix postponed a Cosby stand-up comedy special after accusations surfaced that the comedian had sexually assaulted Janice Dickinson in 1982.[26]
Personal life
Cosby married Camille Olivia Hanks on January 25, 1964.[3] Together, they have had five children, Erika, Erinn, Ensa, Evin, and Ennis.[3] Their only son, Ennis,[3] was murdered on January 16, 1997, while changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. The Cosbys have three grandchildren.[27]
Cosby is a Protestant Christian.[28] He maintains homes in Shelburne, Massachusetts and Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.[29]
Cosby has hosted the Los Angeles Playboy Jazz Festival since 1979. Himself a musician, he is known as a jazz drummer, although he can be seen playing bass guitar with Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis, Jr. onHugh Hefner's 1970s talk show. His story, "The Regular Way", was featured in Playboy 's December 1968 issue.[30]
Cosby has become an active member of The Jazz Foundation of America.[31] 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.[32][33]
Cosby is an alumnus supporter of his alma mater, Temple University, particularly its men's basketball team, whose games Cosby frequently attends. He is also 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.[34]
Controversy
Lawsuit
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 he was the father of her daughter, Autumn Jackson. Cosby denies being the father and said that he gave Upshaw a total of about $100,000 because he did not want her to publicly reveal the affair.[35] Twenty-two-year-old Autumn Jackson was sentenced to 26 months in jail for trying to extort $40 million from Cosby.[36]
Sexual assault allegations and fallout
As of late December 2014, at least 27 women have accused Cosby of drugging them and/or sexually assaulting them, including rape.[37] Cosby has declined to directly discuss the claims.[38]
On January 28, 2000, actress Lachele Covington alleged in a police report filed on February 1, 2000, that Cosby had groped her in his apartment. Covington was 20 years old at the time and had appeared as a waitress on the CBS television show Cosby.[39][40][41]
In January 2004, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, accused Cosby of drugging and fondling her. In February 2005, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said in a statement that Cosby would not be charged over the allegations because of "insufficient credible and admissible evidence".[42] Constand filed a civil claim against Cosby in March 2005[43] and thirteen women were named as potential witnesses if the case went to court.[44] Cosby settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in November 2006.[43]
Upon hearing that the prosecutor was unlikely to pursue charges in relation to Constand's accusation, in February 2005, California lawyer Tamara Lucier Green came forward with allegations that Cosby had drugged and assaulted her in 1969.[45][46] Cosby's lawyer said that Cosby did not know the accuser and that she had described events that did not happen.[47]
In a July 2005 interview with the Philadelphia Daily News, Beth Ferrier alleged that in 1984, Cosby drugged her coffee; she felt woozy, passed out and woke up with her clothes partially removed.[48][49]
In November 2014, journalist Joan Tarshis,[50] model Janice Dickinson,[51] actress Louisa Moritz,[52] actor Lou Ferrigno's wife Carla Ferrigno,[52] Florida nurse Therese Serignese,[53] Playboy Playmates Victoria Valentino[54] and Sarita Butterfield,[55] actress Michelle Hurd,[56] and eleven other women[57] alleged that Cosby drugged, sexually assaulted and/or raped them between 1965 and 2004.[58] Cosby's attorney, Martin D. Singer, stated that Dickinson's account differed from prior accounts she gave of the incident and released a statement on Cosby's website that said in part: "Mr. Cosby does not intend to dignify these allegations with any comment."[59] A follow-up statement by Singer dismissed the allegations as unsubstantial, lacking in evidence, and an attempt to vilify Cosby.[60] Lawyers for Cosby and Constand released a joint statement saying "the statement released by Mr. Cosby's attorney over the weekend was not intended to refer in any way to Andrea Constand. As previously reported, differences between Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand were resolved to the mutual satisfaction of Mr. Cosby and Ms. Constand years ago. Neither Mr. Cosby nor Ms. Constand intends to comment further on the matter."[61]
On December 1, 2014, Cosby resigned from Temple University's board of trustees.[62] On December 3, Judy Huth filed a lawsuit against Cosby in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1974 at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old.[63] The honorary title and status of Chief Petty Officer given to Cosby by the United States Navy in 2011 was revoked on December 4 as a result of the sexual assault allegations against him. In a press release, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Michael Stevens stated, "allegations of sexual abuse made against the comedian are serious and conflict with the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment."[64][65][66]
On December 11, Vanity Fair ran an article written by model Beverly Johnson, wherein she alleges that Cosby drugged her during an audition in 1986, and that other women she has spoken to since then have claimed Cosby drugged and/or fondled them, as well.[67] On December 12, Cosby spoke to the New York Post but did not speak of the rape and sex abuse allegations. His comments to the Post were that his wife is standing by him and his belief that African-American media in the United States should remain impartial and neutral.[68] In January 2015, Chloe Goins alleged that in 2008, when she was 18, Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion.[69]
Socioeconomic and political views
Main article: Pound Cake speech
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.[70][71]
In the "Pound Cake" speech, Cosby 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).[page needed] 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."[72]
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."[73]
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?[74] 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.[75] Dyson suggested that Cosby's comments "betray classist, elitist viewpoints rooted in generational warfare."[74]
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."[76]
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.[77] 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?"[78]
Works
Discography
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)[79]
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)
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | ||
| 1967 | "Little Ol' Man (Uptight—Everything's Alright)" | 4 | 18 |
| 1970 | "Grover Henson Feels Forgotten" | 70 | — |
| 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 |
| 1972-1985 | 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 | |
| 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 |
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