Chuck I. Jones, his publicist, stated that “he died of natural causes at his home in Riverside”
Bill Cobbs, a seasoned American actor best recognized for his parts as Walter in The Brother from Another Planet, Reginald in Night at the Museum, and Louisiana Slim in The Hitter, has passed away. The Hollywood Reporter stated that he was 90 years old. Chuck I. Jones, his publicist, stated that “he died of natural causes at his home in Riverside.” Cobbs, who was born in Cleveland on June 16, 1934, gained recognition for his outstanding performances as the manager of Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard (1992), Medgar Evers’ older brother in Rob Reiner’s Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), a jazz pianist in Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do! (1996), and Master Tinker, the creator of the Tin Woodsman, in Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).
Cobbs made television appearances in Star Trek: Enterprise, The Gregory Hines Show, The Drew Carey Show, and The Slap Maxwell Story. In the 1994 film The Hudsucker Proxy, directed by the Coen brothers, he portrayed Moses, a mysterious clockman who can stop time and comes in handy for Tim Robbins’ character, Norville Barnes.
In Night at the Museum, Cobbs portrayed Reginald, a security guard who was about to retire, in a supporting role. His other noteworthy performances were as former basketball player and coach Arthur Chaney in Disney’s Air Bud and as Charles Evers, Medgar Evers’s older brother, in Rob Reiner’s Ghosts of Mississippi. In the film That Thing You Do starring Tom Hanks, he also portrayed the fictional jazz pianist Del Paxton. He made a cameo in the movie The Search for Santa Paws (2010). He appeared as a guest in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. two-part series finale in 2020.
On June 16, 1934, Wilbert Francisco Cobbs was born. He spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from Cleveland’s East Tech High School, where he dabbled with stand-up comedy. Before making his stage debut in the anti-apartheid musical Lost in the Stars at Karamu House in his hometown in 1969, he sold cars and worked for IBM.
