NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 Bill Cobbs, the veteran character actor who became a ubiquitous and sage screen presence as an older man, has died. He was 90.
Cobbs died Tuesday at his home in the Inland Empire, California, surrounded by family and friends, his publicist Chuck I. Jones said. Natural causes is the likely cause of death, Jones said.
A Cleveland native, Cobbs acted in such films as 鈥淭he Hudsucker Proxy,鈥 鈥淭he Bodyguard鈥 and 鈥淣ight at the Museum.鈥 He made his first big-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974's 鈥淭he Taking of Pelham One Two Three." He became a lifelong actor with some 200 film and TV credits. The lion share of those came in his 50s, 60s, and 70s, as filmmakers and TV producers turned to him again and again to imbue small but pivotal parts with a wizened and worn soulfulness.
Cobbs appeared on television shows including 鈥淭he Sopranos," 鈥淭he West Wing,鈥 鈥淪esame Street鈥 and 鈥淕ood Times.鈥 He was Whitney Houston's manager in 鈥淭he Bodyguard鈥 (1992), the mystical clock man of the Coen brothers' 鈥淭he Hudsucker Proxy鈥 (1994) and the doctor of John Sayles' 鈥淪unshine State鈥 (2002). He played the coach in 鈥淎ir Bud鈥 (1997), the security guard in 鈥淣ight at the Museum鈥 (2006) and the father on 鈥淭he Gregory Hines Show."
Cobbs rarely got the kinds of major parts that stand out and win awards. Instead, Cobbs was a familiar and memorable everyman who left an impression on audiences, regardless of screen time. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding limited performance in a daytime program for the series 鈥淒ino Dana鈥 in 2020.
Wendell Pierce, who acted alongside Cobbs in 鈥淚'll Fly Away鈥 and 鈥淭he Gregory Hines Show,鈥 as 鈥渁 father figure, a griot, an iconic artist that mentored me by the way he led his life as an actor," he wrote on the social media platform X.
Wilbert Francisco Cobbs, born June 16, 1934, served eight years in the U.S. Air Force after graduating high school in Cleveland. In the years after his service, Cobbs sold cars. One day, a customer asked him if he wanted to act in a play. Cobbs first appeared on stage in 1969. He began to act in Cleveland theater and later moved to New York where he joined the Negro Ensemble Company, acting alongside Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Cobbs later said acting resonated with him as a way to express the human condition, in particular during the Civil Rights Movement in the late '60s.
鈥淭o be an artist, you have to have a sense of giving,鈥 鈥淎rt is somewhat of a prayer, isn't it? We respond to what we see around us and what we feel and how things affect us mentally and spiritually.鈥
