As of 2021, the net worth of Bill Cosby is $400 million. We expect this figure to go a bit low due to the many things happening for the few years to come. Bill Cosby is a well-known Actor, Comedian, Author, and Musician from Philadelphia, America.
He ventured into the entertainment industry in the 1960s, where he used to perform standup comedy at the hungry I in San Francisco. Lucky enough, the airing of the sitcom show was on television in 1969, Cosby been one of the actors.
In the previous years, Bill’s image has been tarnished due to many rapes and sexual abuse allegations. Over 60 women have already reported these cases at Cosby. In April 2018, Cosby was lastly convicted of a sexual assault.
Table of Contents
Personal Information
Net Worth: $400 Million
Age: 83
Height: 6ft (1.85 cm)
Born: July 12, 1937
Country of Origin: United States of America
Source of Income: Professional Comedian/Actor
Early Life of Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was born on 12 July in Philadelphia in a family of four. He schooled at Mary Channing Wister public school, where he played basketball and track field games. During his school times, he used to joke a lot instead of studying, which used to worry the teachers most; he branded himself as the class clown.
In 1965, Cosby joined the Navy and worked as a hospital corpsman at Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Naval station, and National Naval Medical Center. He was working in physical therapy with the Navy and personnel from the marine corps who were injured at the time of the Korean war.
Later on, Cosby started bartending at Philadelphia bar, and he used to receive huge tips through making the clients laugh.
Stand Up Career of Bill Cosby
Cosby decided to leave Temple and went ahead to pursue comedy. He used to perform stand-up jobs in Philadelphia and New York City clubs, wherein in 1961, he appeared in The Gaslight Café for the first time. Bills booked dates with different cities like Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. in 1963 during the summer. He welcomed an invitation for National exposure on NBC’s for a famous shoe then known as Tonight Show. Appearing at
Tonight’s show resulted in a recording contract with Warner Bros, which later in 1964 released their first series of comedy, the debut LP, well known as Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow.
In 1983, Bill released his first concert film known as Bill Cosby Himself. Cosby acted his first television Stand up at the age of 30 years, by the name, Far from Finished, and later he performed the last one at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Central in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2014, Cosby was ready to release his new stand-up comic named Bill Cosby 77 on Netflix. Unfortunately, the was a cancellation of the film due to alarming allegations of misconduct for sexual and rape cases against Cosby. He acted his last stand-up comic at LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia on January 23, 2018.
Acting Career
In 1965, Cosby, alongside Robert Culp, appeared in the espionage adventure series, The Spy. The series happened to be the first weekly dramatic series on television featuring a Black American. At the beginning of the year 1965 season, four stations had already declined to air the show, which was a big blow to the series, Georgia being one.
However, the spy was rated among the top twenty most viewed shows that year. Cosby was awarded three consecutive Emmy Awards as the outstanding actor in the spy series. During the 1970s, Cosby, alongside other black American actors like Sidney Poitier, decided to do comedy films cap the violation termed as Blaxploitation. Such films include the uptown Saturday Night whose airing was in 1974.
In 1992, The Cosby show season ended, Bills embarked on some other projects like a revival of Groucho Marx, which was barely a game show.
In November 2014, Cosby received a big blow as NBC scrapped Bill’s brand new show following the accusations of sexual assault and raping of women.
Sexual Assault Cases and Conviction
Cosby has been a victim of numerous cases of rape, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and drug-facilitated sexual assault. The first case was in the 1960s, in 2014 October, a comedy routine that described sexual misbehavior went viral hence, resulting in huge numbers of women coming to the streets to demonstrate that Cosby assaulted them.
Despite all these allegations, Bills has repeatedly denied the accusations and maintains he is innocent. According to his conviction in January 2014, Bill was guilty following three indecent assaults towards a woman in Toronto. Furthermore, on June 23, 2020, the supreme court of Pennsylvania ruled that Cosby will appeal to his sexual assault cases.
Awards and Honors
Bill Cosby has several awards. In 1977, he earned an M.A and an Ed.D from Umass Amherst. in 2002, he also received the presidential medal of freedom represented by George W. Bush.
In the year 2010, he was awarded the Lone Sailor Award by the United States Navy Memorial. In the same year, he was awarded the national football foundation’s Gold Award.
Some of the favorite quotes from Bill Cosby are; ‘Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.’
‘The past is a ghost, the future is a dream, and all we ever have is now.’