Bill Cobbs
- Highest Rated: Nightjohn (1996)
- Lowest Rated: Ed (1996)
- Birthday: Jun 16, 1935
- Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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Character actor Bill Cobbs began his acting career relatively late in life after working odd jobs in Cleveland, OH. At the age of 36, he moved to New York and joined the Negro Ensemble Company, making his Broadway debut in First Breeze of Summer. His film career started in the late '70s with small film roles and guest appearances on television. In the early '80s, he worked on several performances for the NBC Live Theatre series and a PBS anthology with Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Usually cast as the token old black man dispensing words of wisdom, Cobbs' weathered-yet-honest looks got him several guest spots on TV shows from Good Times to The West Wing. He did end up with a few reoccurring roles on sitcoms like The Slap Maxwell Story, The Gregory Hines Show, and The Michael Richards Show. He even had a part in The Others, the NBC sci-fi drama answer to The X-Files. Perhaps his most memorable television appearance is his role as Regina Taylor's father on I'll Fly Away as well as in the TV movie version I'll Fly Away: Then and Now. Throughout his film career, he has built a long list of credits playing kindly fathers, grandfathers, and even Moses (in The Hudsucker Proxy). He was Whitney Houston's manager in The Bodyguard, an old man in New Jack City, and Grandpa Booker in The People Under the Stairs. Though he appears in nearly all genres of Hollywood films, he occasionally gets meatier roles in made-for-TV dramas like Carolina Skeletons, Nightjohn, and Always Outnumbered. In 2002, he played wisened elders in Sunshine State, Enough, and Sweet Deadly Dreams.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
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Nightjohn
100% -
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The Muppets
95% -
Filmography
Movies
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Box
|
Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond the Law | Actor | — | 2019 | |
| My Christmas Grandpa | Actor | — | 2017 | |
| 29% | New Life | Mr. Charles | — | 2016 |
| 65% | The Great Gilly Hopkins | Mr. Randolph | — | 2016 |
| 71% | Of Mind and Music | Stompleg | $15.6K | 2016 |
| The Ultimate Legacy | Mr. Theodore Hamilton | — | 2015 | |
| Call Me King | Malachi | — | 2015 | |
| 47% | Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb | Reginald | $81.6M | 2014 |
| Christmas in Palm Springs | Gabriel | — | 2014 | |
| The Last Letter | Pastor | — | 2013 | |
| Dear Secret Santa | Ted | — | 2013 | |
| 18% | The Ultimate Life | Hamilton | $1.4M | 2013 |
| 58% | Oz the Great and Powerful | Master Tinker | $235M | 2013 |
| Branch Line | Actor | — | 2013 | |
| On Angel's Wings | Actor | — | 2013 | |
| A House Is Not a Home | Actor | — | 2013 | |
| The Undershepherd | Dr. Ezekiel Cannon | — | 2013 | |
| Lukewarm | Thomas | — | 2012 | |
| 95% | The Muppets | Grandfather | $88.7M | 2011 |
| The Tenant | Rymen | — | 2011 | |
| 85% | Get Low | Rev. Charlie Jackson | $9.2M | 2010 |
| No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School | Actor | — | 2010 | |
| 49% | My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done | Actor | — | 2010 |
| Search for Santa Paws | Mr. Stewart | — | 2010 | |
| The Morgue | Actor | — | 2008 | |
| Morgue | Actor | — | 2008 | |
| Duck: Think Outside the Flock | Actor | — | 2008 | |
| Three Days to Vegas | Actor | — | 2007 | |
| 43% | Night at the Museum | Reginald | $249.4M | 2006 |
| 32% | The Ultimate Gift | Ted Hamilton | $3.5M | 2006 |
| Special Ed | Lou | — | 2006 | |
| The Derby Stallion | Houston Jones | — | 2005 | |
| 50% | Duck | Norman | — | 2005 |
| The Final Patient | Dr. Daniel Green | — | 2005 | |
| 87% | A Mighty Wind | Blues Musician | $17.5M | 2003 |
| 80% | Sunshine State | Dr. Lloyd | $2.9M | 2002 |
| 22% | Enough | Jim Toller | $39.2M | 2002 |
| For All Time | Conductor | — | 2000 | |
| 15% | Random Hearts | Marvin | — | 1999 |
| 7% | I Still Know What You Did Last Summer | Estes | — | 1998 |
| 26% | Hope Floats | Nurse | $60.1M | 1998 |
| 62% | Paulie | Virgil | — | 1998 |
| Always Outnumbered | Right Burke | — | 1998 | |
| 45% | Air Bud | Arthur Chaney | — | 1997 |
| 43% | Ghosts of Mississippi | Charlie Evers | — | 1996 |
| 93% | That Thing You Do! | Del Paxton | — | 1996 |
| 23% | First Kid | Speed | — | 1996 |
| Thrill | Norm Duprey | — | 1996 | |
| 0% | Ed | Tipton | — | 1996 |
| 100% | Nightjohn | Old Man | — | 1996 |
| 33% | Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead | Malt | — | 1995 |
| 27% | Fluke | Bert | — | 1995 |
| Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long | Pullman Porter | — | 1995 | |
| Man with a Gun | Henry | — | 1994 | |
| 56% | The Hudsucker Proxy | Moses | — | 1994 |
| 62% | Demolition Man | Zachary Lamb "Aged" | — | 1993 |
| 34% | The Bodyguard | Bill Devaney | — | 1992 |
| Carolina Skeletons | Crooks | — | 1992 | |
| Moe's World | Actor | — | 1992 | |
| 83% | Roadside Prophets | Oscar | — | 1992 |
| 63% | The People Under The Stairs | Grandpa Booker | — | 1991 |
| 74% | The Hard Way | Raggedy Man | — | 1991 |
| 77% | New Jack City | Old Man | — | 1991 |
| Decoration Day | Gee | — | 1990 | |
| Exiled | Abraham White | — | 1990 | |
| 25% | The January Man | Detective Reilly | — | 1989 |
| 80% | Bird | Dr. Caulfield | — | 1988 |
| 80% | Dominick and Eugene | Jesse Johnson | — | 1988 |
| 71% | Suspect | Arraignment Judge Franklin | — | 1987 |
| 78% | Five Corners | Man in Coffee Shop | — | 1987 |
| 31% | Streets of Gold | Dishwasher | — | 1986 |
| 89% | The Color of Money | Orvis | — | 1986 |
| 56% | Compromising Positions | Sgt. Williams | — | 1985 |
| 75% | The Cotton Club | Bib Joe Ison | — | 1984 |
| 88% | The Brother from Another Planet | Walter | — | 1984 |
| 77% | Silkwood | Man in Lunchroom | — | 1983 |
| 87% | Trading Places | Bartender | — | 1983 |
| Rage of Angels | Abraham Wilson | — | 1983 | |
| The Hitter | Actor | — | 1979 | |
| A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich | Bartender | — | 1978 | |
| Greased Lightning | Mary's Parent | — | 1977 | |
| 100% | The Taking of Pelham One Two Three | Man on Platform | — | 1974 |
TV
Rating |
Title |
Credit |
Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62% |
Superior Donuts
2017-2018
|
Luther "Wheels" Langdon |
|
|
Designing Women
1986-1993
|
Henry/Charles |
|
|
|
Greenleaf
2016
|
Henry McCready |
|
|
| 86% |
The Carmichael Show
2015-2017
|
|
|
| 67% |
Rake
2014
|
Judge Rutchland III Federal Judge |
|
| 56% |
Go On
2012-2013
|
George |
|
| 42% |
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
2011
|
Bishop Sanford |
|
|
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000-2015
|
Harry Bastille |
|
|
| 11% |
October Road
2007-2008
|
Mr. Bolivar |
|
| 50% |
Star Trek: Enterprise
2001-2005
|
Emory Erickson |
|
|
Yes, Dear
2000-2006
|
Counter Man Starter |
|
|
|
The Drew Carey Show
1995-2004
|
Tony Tony the Driver |
|
|
| 9% |
10-8: Officers on Duty
2003-2004
|
Earl Edmonds |
|
|
JAG
1995-2005
|
Chaplain Turner |
|
|
| 84% |
NYPD Blue
1993-2005
|
Bernie Carpenter Norval Stevens |
|
| 18% |
Girls Club
2002
|
Judge Middleton |
|
|
My Wife and Kids
2001-2005
|
John |
|
|
| 75% |
The West Wing
1999-2006
|
Mr. Tatum |
|
|
Rugrats
1991-2004
|
Voice |
|
|
| 83% |
Six Feet Under
2001-2005
|
Mr. Jones |
|
| 36% |
The Fighting Fitzgeralds
2001
|
Armentrout |
|
|
Touched by an Angel
1994-2003
|
Henry Baldwin |
|
|
| 0% |
The Michael Richards Show
2000
|
Jack |
|
| 63% |
The Others
2000
|
Elmer Greentree Elmer |
|
|
The Practice
1997-2004
|
Arthur Turner |
|
|
| 92% |
The Sopranos
1999-2007
|
Reverend James Sr. |
|
|
For Your Love
1998-2002
|
Uncle Stanley |
|
|
| 93% |
The Gregory Hines Show
1997-1998
|
James Stevenson |
|
|
The Wayans Bros.
1995-1999
|
Fred |
|
|
|
ER
1994-2009
|
Mr. Bowman |
|
|
|
Empty Nest
1988-1995
|
Jerome |
|
|
|
Northern Exposure
1990-1995
|
|
||
|
Coach
1989-1997
|
George |
|
|
|
Kate & Allie
1984-1989
|
Sam |
|
|
|
Good Times
1974-1979
|
Mr. Gillard |
|
QUOTES FROM Bill Cobbs CHARACTERS
- Old Man
-
Idolater! Your soul is required in hell!
- Mommy
-
Get off my property!
- Grandpa Booker
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Just want to finish saying our piece, ma'am.
- Ruby
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Not only are you bad landlords but 10 times worse. You've stolen all the children from our community for your own sick needs!
- Mommy
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There's no community here, all I see are a couple of-- (the whole neighborhood shows up behind Ruby and Grandpa Booker)
- Ruby
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What are you gonna do...shoot us all?
- Ruby
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What are you gonna do, shoot us all?
- Grandpa Booker
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That brother and sister act you mess with...are evil, plain and simple.
- Grandpa Booker
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That brother and sister act you mess with are evil, plain and simple.
- Fool
-
Wait a minute, brother and sister?
- Grandpa Booker
-
Brother and sister. Tail-end of the craziest family you ever heard of...every generation more insane than the one before it. ...Started out as a family running a funeral home, selling cheap coffins for expensive prices. Then they got their fingers into real estate, started making a lot of money taking over people's homes. The more money they got, the greedier they got. The greedier they got, the crazier they got...All sorts of rumors about what's going on in that place...Never proved it because the police never took it serious. But believe me, when I was a kid, none of us ever walked past that house.
- Grandpa Booker
-
Brother and sister. Tail-end of the craziest family you ever heard of, every generation more insane than the one before it. Started out as a family running a funeral home, selling cheap coffins for expensive prices. Then they got their fingers into real estate, started making a lot of money taking over people's homes. The more money they got, the greedier they got. The greedier they got, the crazier they got. All sorts of rumors about what's going on in that place. Never proved it because the police never took it serious. But believe me, when I was a kid, none of us ever walked past that house.