Bill Cobbs

Bill Cobbs
Cobbs on the set of Get Low in 2009
Born	Wilbert Cobbs June 16, 1934 (1934-06-16) Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Occupation	Actor

Wilbert "Bill" Cobbs (born June 16, 1934) is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 120 television programs and movies.

Life and career

Cobbs was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a domestic worker mother and a father who worked in construction. His parents were hard-working people, who instilled in him a sense of self-reliance and humility. As an amateur actor in the city's Karamu House Theater, he starred in the Ossie Davis play Purlie Victorious. Cobbs was an Air Force radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at IBM and sold cars in Cleveland. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. There he turned down a job in the NBC sales department in order to have time for auditions. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment, selling toys, and performing odd jobs. His first professional acting role was in Ride a Black Horse at the Negro Ensemble Company. From there he appeared in small theater productions, street theater, regional theater and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater.

His first television credit was in Vegetable Soup (1976), a New York public television educational series, and he made his feature film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in 1974. Cobbs has had an extensive film career, and has appeared and been a regular on many television programs including: The Michael Richards Show, The Outer Limits, I'll Fly Away, Yes, Dear, The Sopranos, The Others, JAG, The Drew Carey Show, October Road, One Tree Hill and many more. In his free time, Cobbs enjoys music, reading, and playing his drums.

Bill is a second cousin of the late African-American actor and Song of the South star James Baskett.

In 2006, Cobbs played a supporting role in Night at the Museum as Reginald, a security guard on the verge of retirement. The character also served as an antagonist to the story. He also played basketball coach and retired basketball player Arthur Chaney in Disney's Air Bud, and Medgar Evers' older brother Charles Evers in Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi. He had a pivotal role in the Coen Brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy, and played a jazz pianist in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do.

He recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Ice-T's autobiography.

Filmography

• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich (1978)
• Greased Lightning (1977)
• Trading Places (1983)
• Silkwood (1983)
• The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
• The Cotton Club (1984)
• Compromising Positions (1985)
• The Color of Money (1986)
• Five Corners (1987)
• Suspect (1987)
• Dominick and Eugene (1988)
• Bird (1988)
• The January Man (1989)
• Decoration Day (1990)
• New Jack City (1991)
• The Hard Way (1991)
• The People Under the Stairs (1991)
• Roadside Prophets (1992)
• The Bodyguard (1992)
• Demolition Man (1993)
• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
• Fluke (1995)
• Ed (1996)
• First Kid (1996)
• That Thing You Do! (1996)
• Ghosts of Mississippi (1996)
• Air Bud (1997)
• Always Outnumbered (1998)
• Paulie (1998)
• Hope Floats (1998)
• I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
• The Wild Thornberrys (1998)
• Random Hearts (1999)
• Rugrats (2001)
• Sunshine State (2002)
• Enough (2002)
• A Mighty Wind (2003)
• Lost (2004)
• Duck (2005)
• The Derby Stallion (2005)
• Startrek Enterprise, Guestplaying Season 04 Episode 10:Daedalus (2005)
• Hard Luck (2006)
• Night at the Museum (2006)
• The Ultimate Gift (2007)
• Three days to Vegas (2007)
• The Morgue (2008)
• Black Water Transit (2009)
• My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010)
• No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School (2010)
• Get Low (2010)
• The Arcadian (2010)
• The Muppets (2011)

External links

• Bill Cobbs at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Cobbs at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)