Bill Cosby

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Biography

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. (born July 12, 1937) is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and convicted sex offender. He got his start as a nightclub stand-up comic before landing a starring role in the action show I Spy (1965-1968). After various film and television roles, Cosby's greatest success came when he produced and starred in The Cosby Show (1984-1992), a popular sitcom that highlighted the experiences and growth of an upper-middle-class African-American family. Due to this role, he was widely dubbed "America's Dad." After the show ended, he produced and starred in multiple other shows and films. He was a sought-after spokesman from the 1960s until the early 2000s, endorsing a number of products including Jell-O, Kodak film, Ford, Texas Instruments, and Coca-Cola. Cosby has received several awards including 5 Primetime Emmy Awards, 2 Daytime Emmy Awards, 9 Grammy Awards, 2 Golden Globe Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to television (2002), and several honorary degrees from colleges and universities. Many of his awards have been rescinded due to numerous sexual assault allegations, including the 1998 Kennedy Center Honor, the 2009 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and all but 10 of 72 honorary degrees. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him as a member of the Actors Branch in May 2018. Approximately 60 women have accused Cosby of various forms of sexual assault in alleged incidents spanning from 1965 to 2008. These allegations became highly publicized in 2014, leading to several civil suits and criminal investigations for cases that had not yet reached the statute of limitations. Many networks, including NBC, removed reruns of The Cosby Show from their schedules. In April of 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison for multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2021 due to violation of a prior prosecutorial agreement that Cosby's previous civil suit testimony—in which he admitted to giving drugs to women he wanted to have sex with—would not be used in the criminal trial. He was released from prison later that month after serving almost three years of the sentence and maintains his innocence in all accusations. As of August 2021, there is still one known active civil suit against Cosby.

Movies

Meet the Press is a weekly American television news/interview program airing on NBC. It is the longest-running television series in American broadcasting history, despite bearing little resemblance to the original format of the program seen in its television debut on November 6, 1947. Meet the Press is the highest-rated of the American television Sunday morning talk shows. It has been hosted by 11 moderators, beginning with Martha Rountree. The current host is David Gregory, who assumed the role in December 2008. The show began using a new set on May 2, 2010, with video screens and a library-style set with bookshelves, and different, modified intro music, with David Gregory previewing the guests using a large video screen, and with the Meet the Press theme music in a shorter "modernized [style]... the beginning repeated with drum beats". Meet the Press and similar shows specialize in interviewing national leaders on issues of politics, economics, foreign policy and other public affairs. Over the past few years, the program's usual time slot over the NBC network is between 9-10 a.m. local time in most markets, though this may vary by markets due to commitments by affiliates to religious, E/I or local news and public affairs programming. It also varies several weeks in the summer due to morning coverage of French Open tennis or the Monaco Grand Prix by NBC Sports. In earlier years, the program would air at noon every Sunday. The program also re-airs Sunday afternoons at 2 p.m. ET and early Monday mornings at 4 a.m. ET on MSNBC, along with an early Monday morning replay as part of NBC's "All Night" lineup. The program is also distributed to radio stations via syndication by Dial Global, and aired as part of C-SPAN Radio's replay of the Sunday morning talk shows.

More info
Meet the Press
1947