While pursuing an acting career, Cambridge supported himself with a variety of jobs, including "cab driver, bead-sorter, ambulance driver, gardener, judo instructor, and clerk for the
New York City Housing Authority," Cambridge received a
1962 Tony Award nomination as part of the original cast of
Purlie Victorious, a play written by and starring
Ossie Davis; he was featured in an opening-night cast that also included
Ruby Dee,
Alan Alda,
Sorrell Booke,
Roger C. Carmel,
Helen Martin, and
Beah Richards. Godfrey's memorable film roles include
The Last Angry Man (1959), in which he played a character called "Nobody Home", ''
The President's Analyst (1967), where he plays a depressed government agent, and Watermelon Man (1970), in which he played the lead character, a white bigot who one day wakes up and discovers his skin color has turned black. (On one of his comedy LPs, Cambridge ruefully noted he did not get the lead role in King of Kings, calling it "a marketing problem".) He also had a starring role in the 1970 Ossie Davis adaptation of the Chester Himes novel Cotton Comes to Harlem, as well as its 1972 sequel, Come Back, Charleston Blue''. Cambridge made an appearance in director
Sidney Lumet's
Bye Bye Braverman (1968) as a
Yiddish speaking NYC cab driver involved in a car collision with the main protagonists, and another as a
gay underworld figure in the 1975 film
Friday Foster. His other film appearances included roles in
The Busy Body (1967),
The Biggest Bundle of Them All (1968),
The Biscuit Eater (1972),
Beware! The Blob (1972), and
Whiffs (1975). He hosted, financed, and produced
Dead is Dead (1973), a drug-awareness film. It gave an uncensored look at the downside of drug abuse, showing actual addicts injecting drugs and going through
withdrawal. Cambridge appeared on several
network television programs, including
Car 54 Where Are You? ("The Curse of the Snitkins"),
The Dick Van Dyke Show ("The Man From My Uncle"),
I Spy ("Court of the Lion"),
The Monkees ("It's a Nice Place to Visit"), and
Police Story ("Year of the Dragon"). He also had a small speaking part as a member of Sgt. Bilko's platoon in
The Phil Silvers Show, 1957 episode "Boys Town". Cambridge gave an acclaimed performance alongside
Tom Bosley in the episode "Make Me Laugh" of
Rod Serling's
Night Gallery, a story about a failed comedian who looks to a
genie for a quick fix to success; the episode was directed by
Steven Spielberg. He perhaps reached his largest television audience in a series of comical commercials for
Jockey brand underwear. He later appeared in
Jean Genet's
The Blacks: A Clown Show, giving a performance that earned him an
Obie Award in 1961. Four years later he did a stock version of
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. ==Stand-up comedy==