Who was Bill Cobbs?

The US actor was also known for his role as Whitney Houston’s manager Bill Devaney in the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

American actor Bill Cobbs has died at the age of 90.

Bill Cobbs was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where his parents were hard-working people, who instilled in him a sense of self-reliance and humility. As an amateur actor in the city’s Karamu House Theater, he starred in the Ossie Davis play “Purlie Victorious”. Cobbs was an Air Force radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at IBM and sold cars in Cleveland. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. There he turned down a job in the NBC sales department in order to have time for auditions. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment, selling toys, and performing odd jobs. His first professional acting role was in “Ride a Black Horse” at the Negro Ensemble Company. From there, he appeared in small theater productions, street theater, regional theater and at the Eugene O’Neill Theater. His first television credit was in Vegetable Soup (1975), a New York public television educational series, and he made his feature film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). In his free time, Cobbs enjoys music, reading, and playing his drums. He lives in New York City and Los Angeles, California and continues acting.

Bill Cobbs, a veteran character actor who amassed almost 200 credits over a five-decade career – including roles in The Bodyguard and Night at the Museum – has died aged 90.

He died “peacefully” on Tuesday night at his home in Riverside, California, his brother Thomas G Cobbs confirmed. His publicist Chuck I Jones told the Associated Press that natural causes is the likely cause of death.

Cobbs’ brother remembered him as “a beloved partner, big brother, uncle, surrogate parent, godfather and friend”.

“Bill recently and happily celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by cherished loved ones,” he wrote. “As a family we are comforted knowing Bill has found peace and eternal rest with his Heavenly Father. We ask for your prayers and encouragement during this time.”

A Cleveland native, Cobbs appeared in the Coen brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy, as Whitney Houston’s manager in The Bodyguard, in Martin Scorsese’s 1986 sports drama The Color of Money, as the coach in Air Bud and as the security guard in Night at the Museum. He made his first big-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

“All our friends and neighbours went to see the movie, and everyone was waiting for my appearance,” Cobbs remembered in a 2013 interview. “I walk up to a policeman in the subway and say, ‘Hey, man. What’s goin’ on?’”

He became a lifelong actor with about 200 film and TV credits. The lion’s share of those came in his 50s, 60s and 70s, as film-makers and TV producers turned to him again and again to imbue small but pivotal parts with a wizened and worn soulfulness.

In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy for his role as Mr Hendrickson on Dino Dana, a Canadian children’s educational show.

Cobbs appeared on TV shows including The Sopranos, The West Wing, The Equalizer, Six Feet Under, Sesame Street and Good Times.

Cobbs rarely got the kinds of major parts that stand out and win awards. Instead, he was a familiar and memorable everyman who left an impression on audiences, regardless of screen time.

Wendell Pierce, who acted alongside Cobbs in I’ll Fly Away and The Gregory Hines Show, remembered Cobbs as “a father figure, a griot, an iconic artist that mentored me by the way he led his life as an actor”, he wrote on Twitter/X.

Wilbert Francisco Cobbs, born 16 June 1934, served eight years in the US air force after graduating from 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.

“To be an artist, you have to have a sense of giving,” Cobbs said in a 2004 interview. “Art 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.”

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

He was best known for his roles as security guard Reggie in the 2006 film Night At The Museum, and as Whitney Houston’s manager Bill Devaney in the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

He also featured in the former’s sequel Secret Of The Tomb, released in 2014.

The veteran actor died on Tuesday evening in the Inland Empire, California, his agent told the PA news agency.

His agent said Cobbs was surrounded by his family and is thought to have died of natural causes.

Other roles Cobbs will be remembered for include Arthur Chaney in Air Bud, Moses the Clock Man in The Hudsucker Proxy and Dr Elton Lloyd in Sunshine State.

His TV credits included appearances on The Sopranos, The West Wing, Sesame Street and ER.

In total, Cobbs featured in 200 films and TV programmes throughout his career.

In 2020, he won an Emmy award for outstanding limited performance in a daytime programme for the series Dino Dana.