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.
