Rory O’Sullivan
May 21,2002
Heald USLit
William Henry Cosby, Jr., was born on July 12, 1937, Philadelphia, Pa., to Anna and
William Cosby. He was an American comedian, actor, and producer, who played a major
role in the development of a more positive portrayal of blacks on television and this is his
story.
William’s first comedic roles were in the Philadelphia schools he grew up in. He used
his comedy as an escape from his troubled fatherless life and to gain acceptance from his
peers. Cosby gained most of his comedic skills from Mark Twain, which his mom would
read, to he and his younger brothers after a long days work. In fact one teacher told him
“in this classroom, there is one comedian and it is I. If you want to be one, grow up, get
your own stage, and get paid for it,” it was the best advice a teacher ever gave him.
Cosby also watched comedians on a fellow project members T.V.
Cosby left high school without earning his diploma and joined the U.S. Navy in 1956.
While enlisted he passed a high school equivalency exam, and after his discharge he
received an athletic scholarship to Temple University in Philadelphia in 1961. During his
sophomore year he left Temple to entertain at the Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village,
New York City, where he began to establish a trademark comedic style characterized by
a friendly and accessible stage persona and a relaxed, carefully timed delivery. During
the 1960s Cosby toured major U.S. and Canadian cities, commanding ever-higher
performance fees. In 19965 he made his first appearance on the Tonight Show Starring
Johnny Carson.
Cosby’s first acting assignment, in the espionage series I Spy (1965-68), made him the first black actor to perform in a starring dramatic role on network television. His portrayal of a black secret agent won him three Emmy Awards and helped to advance the status of African-Americans on television. Cosby’s subsequent projects for television included the series of Bill Cosby Specials (1968-71, 1975), the situation comedy The Bill Cosby Show (1969-71), the variety show the New Bill Cosby (1972-73), and the successful cartoon Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-84, 1989), that is now a successful clothing line sponsored by Fubu. He appeared in numerous commercials and on children’s shows such as Sesame Street and Electric Company; he also made several feature films, which enjoyed limited success.
Cosby’s most successful work, The Cosby Show, apeared on NBC from 1984 to 1992, becoming one of the most popular sitiuation comedys in television history and one on my favorite sicoms. The cosby show dipicted a stale, prosperous black family—Cosby’s character was a docter and his wife a lawer—and avoided racial sterotypes. The show had broad cross-cultural appeal and won several major awards.
Cosby was awarded a docterate in education from the University of Massachussetts in 1977 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1984. His comedy records all of which I love earned him eight Grammy awards. In 1986 he wrote the best-selling book, Fatherhood, which I know am reading.