Bill Cosby

Known for ActingBorn 1937-07-12 (age 88)Philadelphia, PA, USA

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American convicted sex offender. He got his start as a nightclub stand-up comic before landing a starring role in the action show I Spy (1965-1968). After various film and television roles, Cosby's greatest success came when he produced and starred in The Cosby Show (1984-1992), a popular sitcom that highlighted the experiences and growth of an upper-middle-class African-American family. Due to this role, he was widely dubbed "America's Dad." After the show ended, he produced and starred in multiple other shows and films. He was a sought-after spokesman from the 1960s until the early 2000s, endorsing a number of products including Jell-O, Kodak film, Ford, Texas Instruments, and Coca-Cola. Cosby has received several awards including 5 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards, 9 Grammy Awards, 2 Golden Globe Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to television (2002), and several honorary degrees from colleges and universities. Many of his awards have been rescinded due to numerous sexual assault allegations, including the 1998 Kennedy Center Honor, the 2009 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and all but 10 of 72 honorary degrees. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him as a member of the Actors Branch in May 2018. Approximately 60 women have accused Cosby of various forms of sexual assault in alleged incidents spanning from 1965 to 2008. These allegations became highly publicized in 2014, leading to several civil suits and criminal investigations for cases that had not yet reached the statute of limitations. Many networks, including NBC, removed reruns of The Cosby Show from their schedules. In April of 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison for multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2021 due to violation of a prior prosecutorial agreement that Cosby's previous civil suit testimony—in which he admitted to giving drugs to women he wanted to have sex with—would not be used in the criminal trial. He was released from prison later that month after serving almost three years of the sentence and maintains his innocence in all accusations. As of August 2021, there is still one known active civil suit against Cosby.Read more

Movies & web series

Bill Cosby: Fall of an American Icon

Nelson Mandela Redrawn

NBC 75th Anniversary Special

The One, the Only... Groucho

Superstars and their Moms

Top Secret

After Newtown: Guns in America

Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey

The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story

Kraft Salutes the George Burns 90th Birthday Special

Aesop's Fables

The Don Knotts Show

Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed

Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration

Bill Cosby: Walking Free

Reading Rainbow

Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy

Jack Paar: Smart Television

Cola Wars

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The Harlem Globetrotters: The Team That Changed the World

The Midnight Special

In Remembrance of Martin

The Cosby Show: A Look Back

Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert

Lightning in a Bottle

Malcolm X

Men of Honor

Basketball: A Love Story

The Emmy Awards

Bill Cosby: Himself

Doug Henning's World of Magic

Keep On Keepin' On

The Kennedy Center Honors

4 Little Girls

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Touched by an Angel

Becker

Sesame Street: 20 Years ... and Still Counting!

Bill Cosby: Far From Finished

Goose

I Am Richard Pryor

Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed

The Dean Martin Show

King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis

The Electric Company

B.B. King: The Life of Riley

We Need to Talk About Cosby