Actor/Comedian (1937-)
Bill Cosby dropped out of high school and joined the Navy in the 1950s. Cosby later went to college on a football scholarship. In the 1960s Cosby started performing stand-up routines ("Fat Albert," "Weird Harold"). He co-starred with Robert Culp in the adventure series "I Spy" (1965-68); which earned him three of five Emmys. Bill Cosby's stature at that time was a breakthrough for Blacks, and he continued to press forward in the comedy and television arenas. Cosby's "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids", ran for twelve years on CBS Saturday mornings, from 1972-1984. In the '70s, Cosby returned to school to get his doctorate in education. He later made a endowment of $20 million to Spelman College in Atlanta in 1989. In the 1980s, Bill Cosby had the nation's top-rated television series, The Cosby Show, and was Madison Avenue's favorite pitchman. Cosby's series of humorous books about just plain living were successful best sellers. Cosby's latest television series, re-teams him in a comedy with Phylicia Rashad.
