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Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby162 posts

Bill Cosby is an American comedian born in 1937.

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12 Jul, 1937

Bill Cosby born in Philadelphia

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William Henry Cosby Jr. is born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania to Anna Pearl (née Hite) and William H. Cosby Sr. a U.S. Navy sailor.

I started out as a child and group up in the streets of Philadelphia playing street football.

He spends many afternoons at the movies:

I was able to go on a Saturday afternoon and see cowboys and cartoons and a serial—we called them chapters in our neighborhood in the Projects in Philadelphia.

Bill Cosby - I Started Out as a Child FULL ALBUM (1964)

1942

Elementary school

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Cosby attends Mary Channing Wister Elementary School and his activity in performing in school plays and in sports. His mother’s old high school friend, Mary B. Forchic, is one of his teachers there. Together the pair make a plan for Cosby’s academic performance:

My mother, upon meeting her and having not seen her since high school, told her to make sure to get me…I performed from failing to outstanding in everything but she wrote in the report card, ‘I’m just afraid, as William moves to the seventh grade that he will not be monitored and will then fall back on his old habits.’ And I did.

1961

Attends Temple University

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Cosby receives a “Track and Field” athletic scholarship at Temple University, Philadelphia.  He studies physical education along with running track.  Cosby also plays fullback on the football team and joins the school’s chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He plays freshman football.

I’m around 185. I think I am a good running back, but I’m really not that fast. There is only one thing I can do, that is throw a cross-body block. Picture perfect. I love it. Not that good at pass blocking.

After one hit:

I started to feel my legs and I said, ‘Oh, my God, I’m paralyzed.’ If I don’t try to move, I’ll never know if I’m paralyzed, so I stay there. My trainer says, ‘Ask him his name.’ Dumbest thing I ever heard. I said, ‘Rumpelstiltskin,’ and Coach said, ‘He’s all right!’ I got up and the field was tilting. Somebody tapped me and said, ‘You have to go off the field.’

On deciding to become a physical education teacher:

They put me in remedial everything at Temple University and I will tell you I was the happiest 23 year old in remedial everything. I was there and I now knew what I had to do.

While at school Cosby tends bar and tells jokes. He continues to wear a cherry-red Temple sweatshirt while working clubs in Philadelphia and New York.

It made me walk from the dressing room to the stage. There would be no fear — unless I put that fear in myself.

25 Jan, 1964

Cosby, Hanks marry

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Cosby marries Camille Hanks, in a church in Olney, Maryland. Camille Olivia Hanks is a middle class 19-year-old psychology student at the University of Maryland. She is the daughter of an Army colonel.

I remember my pre-proposal which was, I would like to spend the rest of my life with you.

15 Sep, 1965

I Spy

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I-Spy-Book-Robert-Culp-and-Bill-CosbyCosby becomes the first African-American actor to be cast in an episodic television series when he stars in I Spy, about two American agents facing, funny but skillful espionage adventures. Cosby plays Alexander Scott,  his partner’s trainer and a language expert. Co starring Robert Culp

People writing and people news said that I was the Jackie Robinson of television drama.

Bill Cosby Remembers Robert Culp

22 Mar, 1966

Wins first Emmy Award

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Cosby becomes the very first African American to win an Emmy Award.  Cosby wins in the Lead Actor category for his role in the television show I Spy. 

Jan 1969

Spanish fly joke

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On his comedy album, It’s True, It’s True, Cosby jokes about drugging girls with Spanish Fly.

You know anything about Spanish Fly, well it’s this girl crazy Mary, you put some in her drink she’ll go awwgg…awwgg. Well that is really groovy, Spanish Fly is groovy.

Bill Cosby Jokes About Drugging Girls with "Spanish Fly" In 1969 Comedy Album

9 Sep, 1972

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

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Cosby voices, produces and hosts the animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The show features  the adventures of a group of Philadelphia inner-city kids.

When I did Fat Albert, I started thinking about, as the hero, what is it he could say that consistently and people would pick up on it. He loves the Temptations. And he wanted to be a background singer.

Bill Cosby - Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972) Intro

7 Dec, 1985

Spingarn Medal

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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awards Cosby the  Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement. The award was instituted in 1914 by J.E. Spingarn honoring African Americans for high achievement.

14 Aug, 1986

Fatherhood

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Cosby’s book Fatherhood is published and is the fastest selling book of all time. The book is ghostwritten by Schoenstein.

Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.

24 Feb, 1987

Wins Grammy

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Cosby wins the Grammy for Best Comedy Recording for Those Of You With Or Without Children, You’ll Understand.

12 Mar, 1997

Bill Boggs interview

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Cosby speaks on acupuncture, his diet, favorite foods and childhood memories.

Dinner was at seven and my mother would come home from work, we would have generally what she would cook for the Jewish family she worked for.

Bill Cosby Interview with Bill Boggs

10 Feb, 2005

Rape claim

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Green, a California lawyer, appears on the Today show and alleges that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in the 1970s. Green tells Lauer that Cosby, who had given her pills to combat a fever, drove her to her apartment and began:

groping me and kissing me and touching me and handling me and … taking off my clothes.

According to Green, Cosby left two $100 bills on her coffee table afterwards. Cosby’s lawyer:

Miss Green’s allegations are absolutely false. Mr. Cosby does not know the name Tamara Green or Tamara Lucier [her maiden name], and the incident she describes did not happen. The fact that she may have repeated this story to others is not corroboration.

Mar 2005

Sues Cosby for sexual assault, defamation

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Constand sues Cosby for an  unspecified amount of money on allegations of sexual assault and of defamation stemming from statements that Cosby and his agents made about her to news outlets. Constand says she was director of operations for the Temple women’s basketball program when she met Cosby, one of the school’s most famous alumni and a trustee. She alleges she was visiting Cosby’s Main Line mansion in early 2004 when he gave her pills that he said were “herbal medication” to help her cope with stress. After consuming the pills, she said, she felt hazy but remembered Cosby touching her breasts and genitals.

In legal filings, Cosby denies assaulting Constand. He says the two were acquaintances who sometimes dined alone together or with friends.

1 Jul, 2006

Claims no resistance from Constand

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Cosby claims in his deposition that the intercourse between himself and Constand was not resisted and that he took her lack of resistance as consent for the intercourse.

I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything, and so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped.

9 Nov, 2006

Resolves suit

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According to their lawyers, Cosby and Constand  “have resolved their differences,” and her civil lawsuit against him has been dismissed. Details are not disclosed.

 [The parties] have resolved their differences, and, therefore, the litigation has been dismissed pursuant to local court rule. No further statement will be issued by any of the parties or their representatives.

13 Oct, 2007

Interview with Meet the Press

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Cosby and Dr. Alin F. Poussaint, M.D. appear on Meet The Press to talk about a new book they wrote titled Come On, People: On the Path from Victim to Victors.

A kid is studying and so they say to the kid your acting white. which is a put down to make this kid stop studying. Well lets examine this. if your black and you say to me, because you see me studying, you`re acting white. What are you saying about black people

Bill Cosby-Come On People! Meet The Press