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Bill Cosby<br />
Bill Cosby was one of America's best-loved TV stars, but his son's death in a drive-by shooting and court battles<br />
over alleged sexual assaults have left the family man's image in tatters.<br />
William H. Cosby Jr. first took to the stage as a stand-up comedian while at college. By his early twenties, he had<br />
appeared in a number of television variety programmes including ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and ‘The Johnny Carson Show’.<br />
However, his big break came in 1965 when he appeared as Alexander Scott in ‘I Spy’, winning numerous Emmys for his<br />
performance.<br />
In 1969, he starred in his own series, ‘The Bill Cosby Show’. He was also one of the major characters on the children's<br />
television show ‘The Electric Company’ for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series<br />
‘Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids’, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby also acted in numerous films,<br />
although none has received the acclaim of his television work. In 1984, ‘Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids’ stopped<br />
production, and ‘The Cosby Show’ commenced. This portrayal of a middle-class African-American family – the Huxtables -<br />
was originally rejected by ABC, accepted by a then-floundering NBC, and became an almost instant success. From 1985 to<br />
1987 the show broke viewing records, with Cosby becoming a real driving force in US television during the 1980s.<br />
‘The Cosby Show’ finally stopped production in 1992, conceding its dominant position to the cartoon series, ‘The<br />
Simpsons’. Cosby was also dissatisfied with the way ethnic minorities were portrayed on television. He produced the TV<br />
series ‘A Different World’ in 1987, which was set in a historically black college and concentrated on young people and<br />
education.<br />
Every Closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.<br />
The late 1990s brought trouble for Cosby, first in early 1997 with the death of his only son, Ennis, who was shot to<br />
death in a random act of violence. Also that year, he was dragged into a court case that involved a young woman named<br />
Autumn Jackson who claimed that he was her biological father. Cosby admitted to an affair with Jackson's mother but<br />
denied fathering Jackson. She was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 26 months in prison.<br />
Cosby has received a number of awards during his career and in October 2009, the comedian was presented with the 12th<br />
annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humour.<br />
Page 33<br />
A word to the wise ain’t necessary, It’s the stupid ones who need advice.<br />
Abhi Sharma