Remembering Bill Cobbs

Reflecting on his life and legacy of the prolific Bill Cobbs (1934 - 2024) with two of his co-starring roles.

On June 25, 2024, Willbert Francisco Cobbs passed away at the age of 90. The character actor— as Bill Cobbs gloriously was— gave face to the ambiguities of humanity and a moral throughline and diversion in which we could all better see ourselves.

Cobbs, a prolific Drama-Desk award-winning¹ theater actor, was a bridge for Black talent of yesterday and today as he worked for 5 decades on the screen and stage. His first acting role was in the Negro Ensemble Company’s ‘Ride a Black Horse,’² from there he planted his roots in the Black Arts scene as a board member of burgeoning Black arts organizations, featured player, stage director³, and esteemed peer. The Ohio Native’s first role on screen was in “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1974), a role he was cast in just four years after dedicated his life to acting.

Elain Graham, Phylicia Rashad, and Seret Scott with Bill Cobbs in the 1981 Negro Ensemble Company play “Weep Not For Me;” New York Amsterdam News Archives

Though Cobbs is often boiled down to being of the known-by-face-and-not-by-name variety, his extensive career of over 200 credits reminds us that there are no small parts for Black actors who make a way out of no way. Each life, each career, and role—especially in the interconnected world of Black artistry— awakens possibility in another peer, generation, and audience.

As Wendell Pierce writes, Cobbs was a “father figure, a griot, an iconic artist, that mentored me by the way he led his life as an actor.”

Here are two films to remember him by:

Tuesday Morning Ride (1995)

Bill Cobbs and the legendary Ruby Dee co-star in this this Oscar-nominated short as an aging couple who have reached an impasse. Based on the story by Arna Bontemps, Cobbs shines as the tender connecting tissue as the couple indulge in one day of pleasure. Watch here.

Always Outnumbered (1998)

Based on the Walter Mosley novel of the same name, Bill Cobbs portrays an elder dying of cancer who pushes the hardboiled Socrates Fortlow (Laurence Fishburne) to reconsider how he can make a difference in his community. In this wonderful HBO film— co-starring Natalie Cole, Cicely Tyson, Bill Nunn, and Bill Duke, among others —Bill Cobbs showcases the fullness of his capacity as moral center and a grounding force that made him shine on screen. Watch here.

1. He won a Drama Desk special award in 1973 for his role in “Freeman” and “What the Wine Sellers Buy”

2. He also acted in several other NEC plays including “Waiting for Mongo.'“ He also Ntozake Shange’s debut as a director “Mighty Gents”

3. Cobbs directed several plays across the country including “Hotel Happiness,” “Candyman’s Dance,” and “Ceremonies in Dark Old Men”