Bill Cosby

Born in Philadelphia on July 12, 1937, Bill Cosby built one of the most successful careers in American entertainment before a wave of sexual assault allegations in 2014, followed by criminal conviction and later a vacated sentence, turned him into a polarizing figure. He first drew attention as a stand-up comedian at the Hungry I in San Francisco in 1961, performing observational comedy in a conversational style that felt more like a chat with a friend than a performance. That approach translated well to records, and he released a string of comedy albums starting with Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right! in 1963. He still holds the record for the most Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, with seven wins. Television made him a household name. In 1965 he took the lead in the NBC secret-agent series I Spy, and his role as Alexander Scott broke ground for Black actors on American television. He won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series for that part, becoming the first Black actor to do so. He went on to star in his own sitcom, The Bill Cosby Show (1969–1971), before creating the animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–1985). In 1984 he introduced Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, which ran for eight seasons and made him one of the most recognizable faces on television. He produced and starred in the spin-off A Different World (1987–1993) and later headlined The Cosby Mysteries (1994–1995) and Cosby (1996–2000). He also hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things from 1998 to 2000. His film credits include Man and Boy (1971), Hickey & Boggs (1972), Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let's Do It Again (1975), A Piece of the Action (1977), Leonard Part 6 (1987), and Ghost Dad (1990). Across his career he amassed dozens of film and television appearances, though his output slowed sharply after 2014. He was also a familiar face in commercials, most famously for Jell-O Pudding Pops. More than 60 women have accused Cosby of offenses including rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment. The allegations gained traction in 2014 after fellow comedian Hannibal Buress mentioned them in a comedy set that went viral. Cosby has maintained his innocence. Reruns of The Cosby Show and other programs featuring him were pulled from syndication. In 2018 he was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against Andrea Constand and imprisoned until the conviction was vacated in June 2021 by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which ruled that his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights had been violated. In 2022 a civil jury found him liable for sexually assaulting Judy Huth when she was 16, and in 2026 he was found liable for assaulting Donna Motsinger in Santa Monica in 1972 and ordered to pay $19 million in damages.[edit]