Bill Cosby is a talented actor and comedian best known for his own sitcom, The Cosby Show, which was number one in America from 1984-1989.
The Philadelphia-born entertainer, who has received numerous awards for his work in acting, comedy and music, has recently been accused and convicted of sexual assault by several women.
Bill Cosby was born William Henry Cosby Jr., the eldest of four sons born to Anna Pearl and William Henry Cosby Sr. on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father was in the US Navy where he served as a mess steward while his mother worked as a maid.
He attended Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia, where he became an athlete as captain of the baseball and track teams and also served as class president. He then attended FitzSimons Junior High School, where he continued his athletic ability but also began acting in school plays. At Central High School, Cosby competed on the school’s entire athletic team before attending Germantown High School. However, he had to leave school again because he could not pass the tenth grade.
Bill Cosby got a job as an apprentice at a shoe repair shop after school. He also did other odd jobs before joining the US Navy in 1956, where he first served as a hospital corpsman before working in physical therapy and helping personnel injured in the Korean War.
Completing correspondence courses during his high school years allowed Cosby to earn a high school diploma before attending Temple University on an athletics scholarship in 1961. During his time at Temple, Cosby supported himself financially by working as a bartender at a club. Because he often entertained customers with jokes, Cosby was given an opportunity to perform on the club’s stage, which he grabbed with both hands.
Eventually he decided to drop out of school and give stand-up comedy a chance in his professional life. He appeared on shows in various cities across the country before appearing on NBC’s The Tonight Show. This led to a record deal with Warner Bros. Records, which saw him release his debut comedy album, titled “Bill Cosby’s a Very Funny Guy…Right.” Published ! ‘(1963).
The following year, he won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Performance for his second comedy album, I Started Out as a Child. In total, he released 22 comedy albums.
By 1965, Bill Cosby transitioned into acting and was cast in the NBC television series “I Spy,” which he won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor. In 1967 he began singing and released the music album Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings, the first of 16 music albums.
In 1969, Cosby created and starred in his own sitcom, The Bill Cosby Show, which ran for two seasons. He then went back to school to study at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While attending school, he appeared in the educational children’s series The Electric Company. He also developed the semi-biographical animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
Bill Cosby eventually received his PhD in Urban Education from university in 1977, which led to him also receiving a bachelor’s degree from Temple University based on life experience. After some box office hits with actors like Sidney Poitier, Cosby went on to star and produce another semi-biographical show entitled “The Cosby Show” which immediately wowed critics and fans alike.
Since The Cosby Show ended, Bill Cosby has continued to appear in a number of productions, but none have been as popular or as successful as the former. In 2002 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 2009 he received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Bill Cosby Net Worth (Income and Earnings)
The legendary actor, comedian, musician and author is estimated to have a net worth of around $400 million made from his various works. No wonder, since Bill Cosby was the world’s highest-paid entertainer in the 1980s, while also serving as a brand ambassador for companies like Coca-Cola and Jell-O.
Who is Bill Cosby’s wife?
Bill Cosby is married to Camille Olivia Cosby (née Hanks), a television producer, author, and philanthropist. She is also the inspiration for the character of Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show.
Camille was born in Washington on March 20, 1944. She majored in psychology at the University of Maryland, where she met Bill Cosby as a sophomore. The couple married on January 25, 1964 and have five children together; Erika, Erinn, Ennis, Ensa and Evin.
Is he dead or alive?
Bill Cosby is very much alive despite being falsely reported to have died. He was a victim of the internet death hoax series, which says he died after being found guilty of sexual assault. It was reported that Cosby committed suicide by hanging himself from a rope at his Philadelphia home and was discovered by his wife.
Attempt
On April 26, 2018, Bill Cosby was found guilty of aggravated indecent assault by a jury. He was accused by former Temple University basketball administrator Andrea Constand of drugging and abusing her in his Philadelphia suburb in 2004.
She joins a long list of people accusing Cosby of crimes including rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, substance abuse and sexual misconduct.
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