{"id":4338,"date":"2024-06-27T15:46:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T15:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=4338"},"modified":"2024-06-27T15:46:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T15:46:38","slug":"remembering-the-life-of-the-bodyguard-actor-bill-cobbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2024\/06\/remembering-the-life-of-the-bodyguard-actor-bill-cobbs.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Life of ‘The Bodyguard’ Actor Bill Cobbs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"bill<\/a>
Ga Fullner\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill Cobbs, a veteran actor who became a universal and sage screen presence as an older man, has died at 90 years old. He died at his home in the Inland Empire, California, surrounded by friends and family, according to his publicist Chuck I. Jones. Jones said natural causes are the likely cause of death. The Cleveland native acted in movies like \u201cThe Bodyguard,\u201d \u201cNight at the Museum,\u201d and \u201cThe Hudsucker Proxy.\u201d He made his first big on-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974\u2019s \u201cThe Taking of Pelham One Two Three.\u201d<\/p>\n

He became a lifelong actor with some 200 film and TV credits. Most of those came in his 50s, 60s, and 70s as TV producers and filmmakers turned to him again and again to fill small but important parts with a worn and shrunken soulfulness. He also appeared on TV shows, including \u201cThe West Wing,\u201d \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d and \u201cGood Times.\u201d He was the mystical clock man of the Coen brothers\u2019 \u201cThe Hudsucker Proxy,\u201d Whitney Houston\u2019s manager in \u201cThe Bodyguard,\u201d and the doctor of John Sayles\u2019 \u201cSunshine State.\u201d He also played the security guard in \u201cNight at the Museum,\u201d the coach in \u201cAir Bud,\u201d and the father on \u201cThe Gregory Hines Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cDino Dana\u201d in 2020. Wendell Pierce, who acted alongside Cobbs in \u201cI\u2019ll Fly Away\u201d and \u201cThe Gregory Hines Show,\u201d\u00a0remembered Cobbs<\/a>\u00a0as \u201ca father figure, a griot, an iconic artist that mentored me by the way he led his life as an actor,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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, particularly during the Civil Rights Movement in the late \u201860s. \u201cTo be an artist, you have to have a sense of giving,\u201d\u00a0Cobbs said in a 2004 interview.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cArt is somewhat of a prayer, isn\u2019t it? We respond to what we see around us and what we feel and how things affect us mentally and spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Cobbs, a veteran actor who became a universal and sage screen presence as an older man, has died at 90 years old. He died at his home in the Inland Empire, California, surrounded by friends and family, according to his publicist Chuck I. Jones. Jones said natural causes are the likely cause of death.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[127,122],"tags":[1029],"class_list":["post-4338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actor","category-entertainment","tag-bill-cobbs"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembering the Life of 'The Bodyguard' Actor Bill Cobbs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill Cobbs, a veteran actor who became a universal and sage screen presence as an older man, has died at 90 years old at his California home.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2024\/06\/remembering-the-life-of-the-bodyguard-actor-bill-cobbs.html\" \/>\n<meta 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