I’m Loving Memory Of: Bill Cobbs

Imagine this. A toddler me is sitting in the living room watching the movie New Jack City starring Wesley Snipes and Ice T and the movie’s antagonist Nino Brown is my favorite character in the movie. I’m enjoying everything about the character until some crazy old dude portrayed bill actor Bill Cobbs, who doesn’t like his villainous ways decides to enter the courtroom after the villain is set free from his wrong doing and shoots him dead. I hated that old guy when I was little, but liked him more as I got older and understood why he did what he did. The actor who played the crazy old dude is Bill Cobbs and he is a true legend of cinema.

Bill Cobbs was born William Francisco Cobbs on June, 16th 1934 in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother Vera was a domestic worker and his father David worked in construction. In his adulthood Cobbs served in the US Airspace as a radar technician. After his military life Cobbs had developed a desire for acting. After being trained at the African American Performing Arts Center and Karamu House Theatre in Cleveland Bill took off for New York City in 1970 to pursue a career in show business. While paying his dues he supported himself by putting his technician skills to work and performing odd jobs.

Bill Cobbs first obtained work as a stage play performer in Manhattan. His first professional acting role was in Riding A Black Horse for the Negro Ensemble Company of Manhattan. From there he found much more work in theater working alongside the legendary likes of Ossie Davis, but it was in 1974 that Cobbs would make his feature film debut in the action classic The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three, directed by Joseph Sargent. After his big screen debut Cobbs became a staple on both the big screen and small screen.

For me personally, Bill Cobbs was one of those actors who was all over the place in something good, even though you couldn’t exactly place his name off the top of your head. Of course there was a period when I could never forgive him for killing one of my favorite actors in New Jack City, but the was easily forgivable when you thought about all the lord likeable roles he did in other films much later. There were countless great works of film and television that he was part of that were some of my favorites like The People Under The Stairs (1991), The Bodyguard (1992), Walker Texas Ranger (1997), The Wayans Bros (1997) and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).

It seemed to me that Bill Cobbs generally played a protagonist, regardless of if he was likeable or not, which is important to note because this often played into the plot twist of the projects in which he was featured. Bill Cobbs did however step out and play the villain role on occasion. Perhaps the most famous example of this occasion was his role in the Ben Stiller sci-fi comedy adventure hit series Night At The Museum (2006).

Even with his extensive career and resume, one of Bill’s brightest moments came at the age of 86 years old when in 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana (2020). On June 2024, just nine days after his 90th birthday, Bill passed away and made his transition home. Though I love Bill Cobbs and all his work, I can honestly say I wasn’t sad when he passed away because he lived an amazing life to the fullest as a performing artist. Instead I appreciate him for the great memories he gave all of us who love him and his work and because of how great of a man he was his legacy will live in our memories forever.

~~Dedicated to the loving memory of the amazing artist known as Bill Cobbs.