Bill Cosby - Biography of a Comedian

Bill Cosby's comedy is world-renowned. You just hear his name and, if you haven’t been a total recluse these past 40 years, you can’t help but smile. The man is funny. And he’s a mensch. He is one of the most endearing, and enduring, performers of the second half of the 20th century. For four decades, his live appearances have sold out nightclubs, concert halls, and arenas across the country. He’s had an extraordinary career on the small screen; he is the all-time best-selling comedian on record albums; his books have sold millions of copies. And his support of numerous charities, particularly in the field of education, have, as one writer put it, “endowed hundreds if not thousands of young Americans with the gift of hope and learning.”

Had he not been blessed with drive and ambition and a natural sense of humor, and had he not taken advantage of opportunities afforded him during a four-year stint as a corpsman in the Navy, William Henry Cosby, Jr., -- Cos --might have been a nobody. Instead, the boy who raised his younger brothers in a housing project in Philadelphia after his father, a mess steward in the Navy, abandoned the family, the teenager who dropped out of high school after repeating the tenth grade, the young man who earned money shining shoes and doing odd jobs, has become one of the highest-paid, and most beloved, humorists in America.

Although it was in school that Bill Cosby met the classmates who would one day people his comedy routines as Fat Albert, Old Weird Harold, and Dumb Donald, among others, it was only later, as an adult, that he developed a deep and abiding appreciation for education.

In 1990, Cosby told the St. Petersburg Times: "I'd just grown very tired of myself and thought perhaps there was a career for me in the service. If you stayed in for 20 years, you knew at least you'd get a certain amount of money for the rest of your life." But it was Bill Cosby's military career in the navy that taught him to appreciate the value of education. He learned physical therapy, traveled around the world, and earned a high school equivalency diploma through correspondence courses. When he was discharged in 1960 after four years’ service, Cos, who was then 23, won a track-and-field scholarship and enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia. His ambition? To become a physical education teacher.

There, he excelled in the high jump and in football, but dropped out as his comedy career began to blossom. Bill Cosby's education was eventually completed when he later went on to earn his BA degree, as well as a MA and a PhD in education.

A Very Funny Fellow

Cosby launched his career while still in the Navy. He debuted as a stand-up comic at The Underground Club in his hometown and by 1962 had landed a summer booking at New York City’s Gaslight Café. He was an immediate hit. The next year, he was invited to perform on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and released his first comedy album, Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow, Right!, which was nominated for a Grammy award. Although he didn’t win, he went on to dominate the category for the rest of the decade, winning six consecutive Grammy awards in the late 60s.

In 1965, as the civil rights movement was in full fervor, Cosby made the transition from comedian to actor in the series I Spy and changed the face of television. It was a historic moment in casting when a black man (Cosby) co-starred with a white man (Robert Culp) as his equal. For his barrier-breaking role, Cos won three Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead in a Dramatic Series. And after I Spy ran its course, Cosby became a staple on TV.

After I Spy came the drama The Bill Cosby Show in 1971, and a comedy- variety show called Cos in 1976. There was Cosby on CBS, plus specials and daytime children’s programs including the critically acclaimed Saturday-morning cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. But it was with The Cosby Show, which ran for eight years (1984-92) that Bill Cosby, in the words of Time magazine, "dominated the medium as no star has since the days of Lucille Ball and Milton Berle." The Cosby Show, in which he portrayed obstetrician Dr. Cliff Huxtable, a calm and loving father, head of a close-knit, middle-class African-American family that celebrated their love for each other, illustrated Cosby’s philosophy regarding race. Instead of pointing out the differences among people of different races, Cosby said he would "rather talk about the similarities, about what's universal in their experiences." Because, Cosby believes, “people are many things simultaneously. ‘Race’ is one such thing, but it isn’t the only one and it isn’t always the primary one.”

Coretta Scott King called his show "the most positive portrayal of black family life that has ever been broadcast." The Cosby Show, which enjoyed years of number-one ratings and nearly unanimous critical praise, almost single-handedly resurrected the then moribund sitcom genre and helped lift NBC from last place to first in the ratings. Its refreshing portrayal of African-Americans was, noted Newsweek, a diametrically opposite side of the black experience than what had previously been seen on television: "a tightly nuclear, upscale family coping with the same irritations and misunderstandings that afflict their white counterparts."

Along with his TV shows, he performed on a string of hit comedy albums and authored a number of books. He was the moving force as well behind Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids,; an animated series that portrayed kids from a poor neighborhood who dealt with problems that all children face, from bullies to the arrival of a new sibling. Cosby appeared at the beginning and end of each show – which ran for a dozen years – to encourage children to talk about their problems with friends and family.

Even when Bill Cosby's family was caught in the trauma of a terrible tragedy – his son, Ennis, a dyslexic who had planned a career working with learning-disabled children, was shot to death while changing a tire in an attempted robbery in 1997 – Cosby persevered. “You can turn painful situations around through laughter,” he said. “If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it.”

Inspired, and an Inspiration

Cosby's belief that education is the key to success in life, especially for young blacks, inspired him to pursue advanced degrees. Armed with the doctorate in education he earned at the University of Massachusetts in 1976 – his thesis focused on how to use the media to help kids learn – he has been a knowledgeable and knowing speaker at graduation ceremonies for years.

As a philanthropist with the resources to literally put his money where his mouth is, he and his wife, Camille, who also earned a doctorate in education, have given aid to hundreds of bright young black students over the years. Those chosen "have to meet strict, scholarship criteria," noted Joel Brokaw, a family spokesman. "It's a philanthropic activity they do very privately. And they're very hands-on about it, monitoring their progress closely," he said, adding that he couldn't estimate how many young people have benefited over the years. Because it is Cosby’s deeply held belief that the solutions to the problems of many black Americans are to be found when young people become better educated, and not in blaming all difficulties on race.

The Cosbys have also given big bucks for various causes – cancer research, athletics, civil rights – and to various institutions of higher learning, including $20 million to century-old Spelman College in Atlanta -- the largest gift ever made to a black college. Cosby said in an interview that he wanted to reward the women's college, which two of his four daughters attended, where white Christians from New England had defied segregation laws to educate blacks.

Cosby also has given benefit performances for nearby Morehouse College, from which his only son graduated after overcoming dyslexia.

Among his many accolades, Bill Cosby was presented with the Medal of Freedom* by President Bush in 2002.

*The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the security or national interest of the United States or to world peace, or those who have made a significant public or private accomplishment.