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Monday 21 July 2014

Bill Cosby

When Bill Cosby (b 1937) was cast in 1965 alongside Robert Culp in the I Spy espionage adventure series, Cosby became the first African-American co-star in a dramatic television series.

Cosby in 1957. By Navy Medicine from Washington, DC, USA - 14-0007, CC BY 2.0, $3

Cosby met his future wife, Camille Olivia Hanks, while he was performing stand-up in Washington, DC, in the early 1960s, and she was a student at the University of Maryland. They married on January 25, 1964.

Bill and Camille had five children: four daughters and a son. Their son Ennis was murdered on January 16, 1997 while changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 405 in Los Angeles.

Ennis Cosby, 1992

All of Bill Cosby's children have names beginning with an E, to represent "excellence."

The title character of Bill Cosby's Little Bill book series and animated children's television series (see below) was based on Ennis.

An avid musician, Cosby is best known as a jazz drummer.

Bill Cosby's 1967 musical comedy single, "Little Ole Man" peaked at #4 on the Hot 100. A note-for-note re-recording of Stevie Wonder's “Uptight, Everything's Alright” was used as the backing track.

The Cosby Show was the number one show in America for five straight years (1985–89).

Adam Sandler started his acting career as a recurring character on The Cosby Show in the 80s.

Fatherhood by Bill Cosby, published by Doubleday/Dolphin in 1986, broke the record for the fastest-selling hardcover book of all time. It remained for over half of its fifty-four weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List at #1. The book is a humorous and insightful look at the challenges and joys of fatherhood. It was praised by critics and readers alike, and it helped to cement Cosby's status as one of the most popular entertainers in America.


Cosby's next Doubleday/Dolphin title, Time Flies, had at the time of its publication the largest single first printing in publishing history with 1.75 million copies.

Bill Cosby has more than a dozen honorary degrees.

Cosby's career and image were seriously damaged in the mid-2010s by over 60 sexual assault accusations by women, the earliest of which date back decades. He was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault in April 2018, and sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison on September 25, 2018. Cosby's conviction was a landmark moment in the #MeToo movement, which brought to light the widespread problem of sexual assault and harassment. 

Cosby was released from prison on June 30, 2021, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction on the grounds that a previous prosecutor had agreed not to charge Cosby in the case.

Source Wikipedia

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