Bill Cobbs is a fairly well-known American actor who continues an active career, despite his rather venerable age. From the films where he took part, the public is familiar with “Night at the Museum”, “Oz: Great and Terrible,” “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.” The filmography of Bill Cobbs could have counted more films than now, but he began his active career at a fairly mature age, having already crossed the forty-year mark.
Teenage dream
Not many people are able to persistently go to their dream for almost forty years and maintain faith in themselves. However, the biography of Bill Cobbs can be a role model for those who bend under the very first blows of fate.
The future Hollywood patriarch was born in 1934, during the time of racial segregation in the United States, which largely left an imprint on his fate.
Bill's hometown was Ohio's main city, Cleveland, where he grew up in a large, friendly family. His father worked in construction, his mother was engaged in housekeeping. The venerable Americans raised their son with respect for work and humility, which he later recalled with gratitude.
From childhood, Bill was ill with the stage and sought to take part in all amateur theater productions. From the experiences of those years, he recalls participating in the play Purlie Victorious based on the work of Ozi Davis, which was staged in the walls of a small theater in the town of Karamu.
Free artist
However, between a simple amateur actor from a provincial state and coveted Hollywood, a gigantic distance lay. At the insistence of the parents, the obedient Billy took up more reliable means of earning than the scene. Once in the army, he remained to serve overtime, spending a total of eight years in the air force barracks. Here, Bill Cobbs was in charge of the radar technician, observing the safety of the instruments responsible for the clear American sky above his head.
Demobilized, a native of Cleveland changed several professions. He sold office supplies, traded cars in his hometown. So the first half of the life of the future bright actor passed. He had long exceeded thirty, and those around him decided that he had long forgotten about his daring dream to break into the big screen.
However, at the age of 36, the venerable layman of Cleveland unexpectedly throws everything for everyone and flies to New York, where he hopes to break through among hundreds of thousands of seekers of acting happiness.
Late start
In New York - the theater capital of the United States, a daring provincial begins to attend countless auditions, trying to cling to something. To have time to look for himself as an actor, Bill Cobbs, whose films are yet to come, even refuses the tempting job offer at the NBC sales department, where he is guaranteed a stable salary.
Instead, he visits endless castings, and in order not to starve to death, he is engaged in a side job. A patient Ohio native drives a taxi, repairs office equipment, sells all kinds of junk, and does other odd jobs.
Bill's inhuman stubbornness has fully justified itself as a result. He nevertheless got a place in the modest theater troupe Negro Ensemble Company, where he got his first professional role in the production of Ride a Black Horse. After that, he continues to climb up and collaborates with similar small theaters, after which he enters the Eugene O'Neill Theater.
In 1974, having already crossed the line of forty years, Bill Cobbs got his first movie role. The debut of a big-time newcomer took place in the movie "Capturing the Pelem 1-2-3 Train", which was shot by well-known director Joseph Sargent.
Famous roles
Catching up on what has been lost in forty years, Bill has been filming a lot, continuing to remain in great shape at his eighty-three years.
The main works of the actors are in the late eighties and nineties. Then there was already a certain image of the heroes of Bill Cobbs, which various directors exploited in their new films.
You can recall his participation in the film "The Bodyguard", where he played the role of Billy Doveyni, after which the artist to some extent became a hostage to a successful role. Subsequently, different producers used the same mask of a characteristic actor.
Bill Cobbs has been active for the past twenty years, on his account participation in such films as “Night at the Museum”, “Oz: Great and Terrible”, “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer”, “Clan Soprano”. The last film he worked for was Greenfield, shot in 2016.