Cobbs served in the
U.S. Air Force as a
radar technician for eight years; he also worked in office products at
IBM and sold cars in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for
New York to seek work as an actor. He supported himself by driving a cab, repairing office equipment, selling toys, and performing odd jobs. Cobbs credited Reuben Silver with his start in acting at the African American Performing Arts Center and
Karamu House Theatre in Cleveland. 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 Theatre. As an amateur actor in the city's Karamu House Theater, Cobbs starred in the
Ossie Davis play
Purlie Victorious. Cobbs was in
Vegetable Soup (1976), a New York public television educational series, and he made his feature film debut with a one-line role in
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in 1974. Cobbs had an extensive film career over the next several decades including the bartender in
Trading Places (1983), the man in the lunchroom in
Silkwood (1983),
The Brother from Another Planet (1984),
The Color of Money (1986), a doctor in
Bird (1988), the old man who shoots
Wesley Snipes in
New Jack City (1991), the grandpa in
The People Under the Stairs (1991), the singer's manager in
The Bodyguard (1992), a police officer in
Demolition Man (1993), the "clock man" in the
Coen Brothers'
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994),
Medgar Evers's older brother
Charles Evers in
Rob Reiner's
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), fictional jazz pianist Del Paxton in
Tom Hanks's
That Thing You Do (1996), He also appeared on
Good Times,
Sesame Street,
The Outer Limits;
ER,
Six Feet Under;
The Others;
JAG;
The Drew Carey Show;
Walker, Texas Ranger,
The Sopranos,
October Road;
One Tree Hill;
Star Trek: Enterprise (as Dr. Emory Erickson, inventor of the
Transporter); Bill Cobbs also had a small role, with scene partner, funny, Michael McKean, in Christopher Guest/Eugene Levy hilarious comedy, (dog-show, mockumentary); "Best in Show", (2000); and many more. In 2006, Cobbs played a supporting role in
Night at the Museum as Reginald, a security guard on the verge of retirement. The character also served as an
antagonist to the story. He played a priest in
Get Low (2009). He also had brief appearances in the 2010 film
The Search for Santa Paws, and the 2011 film
The Muppets. In 2014, Cobbs co-starred in
Oz the Great and Powerful as the Master Tinker, and in late 2014 reprised his role of Reginald in
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. He recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's Hip-Hop Literacy2 campaign, encouraging reading of
Ice-T's autobiography. In 2020, he guest starred in
the two-part series finale of
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., portraying an unnamed elderly
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. His last credited appearance came in 2023, in the mini-series
Incandescent Love. ==Death==