Current:Home > InvestBill Cobbs, the prolific and sage character actor, dies at 90-InfoLens
Bill Cobbs, the prolific and sage character actor, dies at 90
View Date:2024-12-23 10:18:00
NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Cobbs, the veteran character actor who became a ubiquitous and sage screen presence as an older man, has died. He was 90.
Cobbs died Tuesday at his home in the Inland Empire, California, surrounded by family and friends, his publicist Chuck I. Jones said. Natural causes is the likely cause of death, Jones said.
A Cleveland native, Cobbs acted in such films as “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “The Bodyguard” and “Night at the Museum.” He made his first big-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974’s “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.” He became a lifelong actor with some 200 film and TV credits. The lion share of those came in his 50s, 60s, and 70s, as filmmakers and TV producers turned to him again and again to imbue small but pivotal parts with a wizened and worn soulfulness.
Cobbs appeared on television shows including “The Sopranos,” “The West Wing,” “Sesame Street” and “Good Times.” He was Whitney Houston’s manager in “The Bodyguard” (1992), the mystical clock man of the Coen brothers’ “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994) and the doctor of John Sayles’ “Sunshine State” (2002). He played the coach in “Air Bud” (1997), the security guard in “Night at the Museum” (2006) and the father on “The Gregory Hines Show.”
Cobbs rarely got the kinds of major parts that stand out and win awards. Instead, Cobbs was an familiar and memorable everyman who left an impression on audiences, regardless of screen time. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding limited performance in a daytime program for the series “Dino Dana” in 2020.
Wendell Pierce, who acted alongside Cobbs in “I’ll Fly Away” and “The Gregory Hines Show,” remembered Cobbs as “a father figure, a griot, an iconic artist that me by the way he led his life as an actor,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
Wilbert Francisco Cobbs, born June 16, 1934, served eight years in the U.S. Air Force after graduating high school in Cleveland. In the years after his service, Cobbs sold cars. One day, a customer asked him if he wanted to act in a play. Cobbs first appeared on stage in 1969. He began to act in Cleveland theater and later moved to New York where he joined the Negro Ensemble Company, acting alongside Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Cobbs later said acting resonated with him as a way to express the human condition, in particular during the Civil Rights Movement in the late ‘60s.
“To be an artist, you have to have a sense of giving,” Cobbs said in a 2004 interview. “Art is somewhat of a prayer, isn’t it? We respond to what we see around us and what we feel and how things affect us mentally and spiritually.”
veryGood! (8)
Related
- Oklahoma school district adding anti-harassment policies after nonbinary teen’s death
- Netflix promotes Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul with trailer that shows fighters' knockout power
- Arkansas Supreme Court rejects challenge to ballot measure that would revoke casino license
- Sofia Richie Shares New Details About Scary Labor and Postpartum Complications Amid Welcoming Baby Eloise
- Amazon launches an online discount storefront to better compete with Shein and Temu
- 2 men arrested in utility ruse that led to the killing of a Detroit-area man
- Walz to unveil Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge
- Victims of Maine’s deadliest shooting start process of suing the Army
- Flurry of contract deals come as railroads, unions see Trump’s election looming over talks
- Powerball winning numbers for October 12 drawing: $364 million jackpot
Ranking
- 'The Penguin' spoilers! Colin Farrell spills on that 'dark' finale episode
- When will Jonathon Brooks play? Latest injury update on Panthers rookie RB
- Congress made overturning elections harder, but there are still loopholes | The Excerpt
- Sofia Richie Shares New Details About Scary Labor and Postpartum Complications Amid Welcoming Baby Eloise
- Brian Kelly asks question we're all wondering after Alabama whips LSU, but how to answer?
- Fantasy football Week 7: Trade value chart and rest of season rankings
- Drone footage shows destruction left by tornado ripping through Florida solar farm before Milton
- Sofia Richie Shares New Details About Scary Labor and Postpartum Complications Amid Welcoming Baby Eloise
Recommendation
-
Oprah Winfrey Addresses Claim She Was Paid $1 Million by Kamala Harris' Campaign
-
Lowriding is more than just cars. It’s about family and culture for US Latinos
-
Mike Tyson will 'embarrass' Jake Paul, says Muhammad Ali's grandson Nico Ali Walsh
-
'He was the driver': Behind $162 million lefty Carlos Rodón, Yankees capture ALCS Game 1
-
When do new episodes of 'Cobra Kai' Season 6 come out? Release date, cast, where to watch
-
'Love is Blind' Season 7: When do new episodes come out? Who is still together?
-
NLCS 2024: Dodgers' bullpen gambit backfires in letdown loss vs. Mets
-
T.I. Announces Retirement From Performing