Bill Cosby is a successful comedian, product representative, television producer, storyteller, author, and film and television actor. His work in the media has been recognized by his peers and critics, and acclaimed by audiences.

Cosby began his career as a stand-up comedian and in that arena developed his trademark of using “race- less” humor to capture audience appeal. His “humor for everyone” cast him less as a jokester than as a storyteller, commenting on the experiences of life from a personal point of view. Immensely popular on the nightclub circuit, Cosby translated his act to phonograph recordings and won five Grammys and seven gold records for his comedy albums.

His first starring role on television, however, came not in comedy but in the 1960s action-adventure series I Spy (1965–68). Producer Sheldon Leonard fought network hesitance to cast him as costar for Robert Culp, making Cosby one of the first African-American players to appear in a continuing dramatic role on U.S. television. More than the faithful sidekick to the star, Cosby’s role developed into an equal partner, winning him three Emmy Awards. His portrayal in this series introduced viewers to an inoffensive African- American feature character who seldom addressed his Blackness or another character’s whiteness.

When Cosby began to produce his own comedy series, however, this disassociation with Black culture ended. The programs he produced were noted not only for their wit but for introducing a side of African-American life never portrayed on the small screen. Cosby’s comedies share several common characteristics. Each has been a trendsetter, has included characters surrounded by family and friends, and has specialized in plots with universal themes and multidimensional characters.

As Chet Kincaid in The Bill Cosby Show (1969–71), Cosby defied the typical image of the militant Black man depicted on 1960s television by expressing his Blackness in more subtle, nonverbal ways. Starting with the opening music by Quincy Jones, the program created a Black ambience unique to the African-American experience. The character Kincaid wore dashikis, listened to Black music, and had pictures of Martin Luther King and H. Rap Brown and prints by Black artist Charles White hanging on the walls of his home. He worked with less-privileged children and ordered “soul” food in Black restaurants. Kincaid was pictured as a colleague, friend, teacher, and member of a close, supportive family unit. Audiences experienced his failures and successes in coping with life’s everyday occurrences.

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–77) was the first animated show to include value-laden messages instead of the slapstick humor used in most cartoons to that time. Plots featured Fat Albert and the Kids playing, going to school, and sharing experiences. After the success of Fat Albert on CBS, ABC and NBC also added children’s shows to the Saturday-morning schedule that presented specific value-oriented material.

Cosby’s most notable success in series television, The Cosby Show (1984–92), departed from familiar sitcom formulas filled with disrespectful children and generational conflict; it presented instead a two-parent Black family in which both partners worked as professionals. In the Huxtable household, viewers were exposed to the existence and culture of historically Black colleges and universities. Prints by Black artist Varnette Honeywood decorated the walls. The music of African-American jazz artists was woven into the background or featured for discussion. Events in Black history and signs calling for an end to apartheid became elements of plots. Just as Chet Kincaid and the Cosby Kids portray their frailties and personality traits, the Huxtables followed this Cosby pattern by depicting imperfect but likable people in realistic situations.

Even when he turned to the police genre with The Cosby Mysteries (1994–95), Cosby continued his exploration and presentation of his fundamental concerns. His use of nonverbal symbols (e.g., pictures, magazines, a fraternity paddle) attached his character, Guy Hanks, a retired criminologist (who recently won the lottery), to African-American culture.

To ensure that universal themes were depicted in his series, Cosby hired professionals to serve as consultants to review scripts. A Different World (1987–93) was the spin-off series from The Cosby Show that portrayed life on the fictional Hillman College campus. It floundered during its first year on the air, and Cosby hired director and choreographer Debbie Allen to lend her expertise to focus and give direction to writers and actors. The ratings improved significantly, and A Different World became a top 20 program for the 1991 season.

Cosby premiered in September 1996 to solid ratings. CBS Television executive Leslie Moonves credited the series with helping to spark a turnaround at the network. Cosby portrayed Hilton Lucas, a curmudgeon and cranky-but-lovable airline employee, forced to readjust when he was laid off, after 30 years, when the company decided to downsize. Lucas spent his days sitting home complaining to his wife Ruthie, who patiently listened to his gripes. Frequent visitors to the Lucas household included grown daughter and law school graduate Erica, Ruthie’s friend Pauline, and next-door neighbor Griffin.

The series, based on a British sitcom, One Foot in the Grave, initially met with harsh reviews. Some critics felt the Lucas character was too far removed from America’s favorite father depicted on The Cosby Show. Others believed the storylines were lethargic and the characters poorly developed. After the original writer and executive producer, Richard Day, was fired, the series changed and began to look more like a traditional Cosby sitcom. The Lucas character softened and stopped complaining; upbeat and brighter storylines aired; children appeared in the cast; and a more congenial relationship developed between Lucas and Griffin. The series, though not a ratings winner comparable to The Cosby Show, still survived four seasons before going off the air in 2000.

In the 1990s, Cosby also starred in new versions of two old television favorites: You Bet Your Life, originally hosted by Groucho Marx, and Art Linkletter’s Kids Say the Darndest Things. Neither was a hit.

Commercials began to interest Cosby in the mid- 1970s, and he has become one of the most respected and believable product spokespersons on television. He has represented Coca-Cola, Jello, Ford Motor Company, Texas Instruments, and Del Monte Foods. Marketing Evaluations, Inc.’s TVQ index, the U.S. television industry’s annual nationwide survey of a performer’s popularity with viewers, and Video Story- board Tests, a firm that ranks the most persuasive entertainers in television commercials, rated Cosby the number-one entertainer for five consecutive years during the 1980s.

In 1974 Cosby teamed with Sidney Poitier in the film Uptown Saturday Night. This duo was so popular with audiences that two sequels followed, Let’s Do It Again (1975) and A Piece of the Action (1977). Cosby has also starred in a number of other movies, but his Everyman character, so successful on the small screen, has not translated into box office revenues in theatrical releases.

As a creative artist, Cosby’s forte is the half-hour comedy. In this form his application and exploration of universal themes and multidimensional characters create situations common to audiences of all ages and races. He counters the accepted practice of portraying African Americans as sterile reproductions of whites, as trapped in criminality, or as persons immersed in abject poverty performing odd jobs for survival. Instead, he creates Black characters who are accepted or rejected because they depict real people, rather than “types.” These characters emanate from his own experience, not through reading the pages of 18th-century literature or viewing old tapes of Amos ’n’ Andy. The Bill Cosby Show presented a more realistic image of the Black male than had been seen previously. Fat Albert significantly altered Saturday-morning network offerings. And with The Cosby Show, a standard was set to which all television portrayals of the Black family and African-American culture will be compared. Cosby’s personal style is stamped on all his products, and his creative technique and signature are reflected in each book he writes or series he produces. As the 21st century begins, Cosby remains one of the few African-American television stars with the clout to determine his destiny on and off the small screen.