Wilbert Francisco Cobbs (June 16, 1934 – June 25, 2024) was an American actor, known for such film roles as Louisiana Slim in The Hitter (1979), Walter in The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Reginald in Night at the Museum (2006) and Master Tinker on Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). He also played Lewis Coleman on I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and had guest appearances on Walker, Texas Ranger and The Sopranos. In 2012, he had a reoccurring role as George in the sitcom, Go On. In 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana.[1]
Wilbert Francisco Cobbs was born on June 16, 1934,[2] in Cleveland, Ohio, to a mother, Vera, who was a domestic worker and a father, David, who worked in construction.[3] He had a brother named Thomas Cobbs.[4] He was the second cousin of Song of the South actor James Baskett.
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.[5]
Cobb credited Reuben Silver with his start in acting at the African American Performing Arts Center and Karamu House Theatre in Cleveland.[6] 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.[7] 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),[7] Basketball coach and retired basketball player Arthur Chaney in Disney's Air Bud (1997), Hope Floats (1998), the boat hand porter in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), a doctor in Sunshine State (2002), Enough (2002), and a blues musician in A Mighty Wind (2003).
He also appeared and was a regular on many television programs, including as Lewis Coleman on I'll Fly Away (1991–1993), James on The Gregory Hines Show (1997-1998), Jack on The Michael Richards Show (2000), and George, a blind grief-support-group member, on Go On (2012-2013).[8] 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 roll, 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[9] 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 2013, Cobbs co-starred in Oz the Great and Powerful[10] 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.[7] Also in 2020, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program for the series Dino Dana.[11] His last credited appearance came in 2023, in the mini-series Incandescent Love. [7]
Cobbs died at his home in Riverside, California on June 25, 2024, at the age of 90.[4][12]