Bill Cobbs

Highest Rated: 100% The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Lowest Rated: 0% Ed (1996)

Birthday: Jun 16, 1935

Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

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

View All Photos

Highest Rated Movies

Filmography

MOVIES

		CREDIT
No Score Yet	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
No Score Yet	The Ultimate Legacy	Mr. Theodore Hamilton	—	2015
No Score Yet	Call Me King	Malachi	—	2015
47%	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Reginald	$81.6M	2014
No Score Yet	Christmas in Palm Springs	Gabriel	—	2014
No Score Yet	The Last Letter	Pastor	—	2013
No Score Yet	Dear Secret Santa	Ted	—	2013
18%	The Ultimate Life	Hamilton	$1.4M	2013
59%	Oz the Great and Powerful	Master Tinker	$235M	2013
No Score Yet	Branch Line	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	On Angel's Wings	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	A House Is Not a Home	Actor	—	2013
No Score Yet	The Undershepherd	Dr. Ezekiel Cannon	—	2013
No Score Yet	Lukewarm	Thomas	—	2012
95%	The Muppets	Grandfather	$88.7M	2011
No Score Yet	The Tenant	Rymen	—	2011
85%	Get Low	Rev. Charlie Jackson	$9.2M	2010
No Score Yet	No Limit Kids: Much Ado About Middle School	Actor	—	2010
49%	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done	Actor	—	2010
No Score Yet	Search for Santa Paws	Mr. Stewart	—	2010
No Score Yet	The Morgue	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Morgue	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Duck: Think Outside the Flock	Actor	—	2008
No Score Yet	Three Days to Vegas	Actor	—	2007
42%	Night at the Museum	Reginald	$249.4M	2006
32%	The Ultimate Gift	Ted Hamilton	$3.5M	2006
No Score Yet	Special Ed	Lou	—	2006
No Score Yet	The Derby Stallion	Houston Jones	—	2005
50%	Duck	Norman	—	2005
No Score Yet	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
No Score Yet	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
No Score Yet	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
No Score Yet	Thrill	Norm Duprey	—	1996
0%	Ed	Tipton	—	1996
No Score Yet	Nightjohn	Old Man	—	1996
33%	Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead	Malt	—	1995
27%	Fluke	Bert	—	1995
No Score Yet	Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long	Pullman Porter	—	1995
No Score Yet	Man with a Gun	Henry	—	1994
56%	The Hudsucker Proxy	Moses	—	1994
61%	Demolition Man	Zachary Lamb "Aged"	—	1993
34%	The Bodyguard	Bill Devaney	—	1992
No Score Yet	Carolina Skeletons	Crooks	—	1992
No Score Yet	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
No Score Yet	Decoration Day	Gee	—	1990
No Score Yet	Exiled	Abraham White	—	1990
20%	The January Man	Detective Reilly	—	1989
80%	Bird	Dr. Caulfield	—	1988
80%	Dominick and Eugene	Jesse Johnson	—	1988
69%	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
53%	Compromising Positions	Sgt. Williams	—	1985
75%	The Cotton Club	Bib Joe Ison	—	1984
88%	The Brother from Another Planet	Walter	—	1984
79%	Silkwood	Man in Lunchroom	—	1983
86%	Trading Places	Bartender	—	1983
No Score Yet	Rage of Angels	Abraham Wilson	—	1983
No Score Yet	The Hitter	Actor	—	1979
No Score Yet	A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich	Bartender	—	1978
No Score Yet	Greased Lightning	Mary's Parent	—	1977
100%	The Taking of Pelham One Two Three	Man on Platform	—	1974

TV

		CREDIT
62%	Superior Donuts 2017-2018	Luther "Wheels" Langdon	2018 2017
No Score Yet	Designing Women 1986-1993	Henry/Charles	2018 1990
86%	The Carmichael Show 2015-2017		2017
No Score Yet	Greenleaf 2016	Henry McCready	2017 2016
67%	Rake 2014	Judge Rutchland III Federal Judge	2014
57%	Go On 2012-2013	George	2013 2012
42%	Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior 2011	Bishop Sanford	2011
No Score Yet	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 2000-2015	Harry Bastille	2008
50%	Star Trek: Enterprise 2001-2005	Emory Erickson	2005
No Score Yet	The Drew Carey Show 1995-2004	Tony Tony the Driver	2004 2003 2002
No Score Yet	JAG 1995-2005	Chaplain Turner	2003 2002
84%	NYPD Blue 1993-2005	Bernie Carpenter Norval Stevens	2003 1996
No Score Yet	My Wife and Kids 2001-2005	John	2002
75%	The West Wing 1999-2006	Mr. Tatum	2002
No Score Yet	Rugrats 1991-2004	Voice	2001
83%	Six Feet Under 2001-2005	Mr. Jones	2001
No Score Yet	Touched by an Angel 1994-2003	Henry Baldwin	2001
No Score Yet	The Practice 1997-2004	Arthur Turner	2000
92%	The Sopranos 1999-2007	Reverend James Sr.	2000
No Score Yet	The Wayans Bros. 1995-1999	Fred	1997 1996
No Score Yet	ER 1994-2009	Mr. Bowman	1996
No Score Yet	Empty Nest 1988-1995	Jerome	1994
No Score Yet	Northern Exposure 1990-1995		1994
No Score Yet	Coach 1989-1997	George	1993
No Score Yet	Good Times 1974-1979	Mr. Gillard	1976

QUOTES FROM Bill Cobbs CHARACTERS

Old Man

Idolater! Your soul is required in hell!

Mommy	Get off my property!
Grandpa Booker	Just want to finish saying our piece, ma'am.
Ruby	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	There's no community here, all I see are a couple of-- (the whole neighborhood shows up behind Ruby and Grandpa Booker)
Ruby	What are you gonna do...shoot us all?
Ruby	What are you gonna do, shoot us all?

Grandpa Booker	That brother and sister act you mess with...are evil, plain and simple.
Grandpa Booker	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.

News & Interviews for Bill Cobbs

View All

On Dvd & Streaming