Bill Cobbs, Night at the Museum and Sopranos actor, dies aged 90

Bill Cobbs attends a Golden Globes afterparty in Beverly Hills in 2013 (Getty Images for NBCUniversal)

Bill Cobbs, the veteran character actor who appeared in over 120 films and television shows, has died. He was 90.

He was best known for his much-loved movie appearances in Night at the Museum, The Bodyguard and The Hudsucker Proxy, as well as television shows The Sopranos, The West Wing and Six Feet Under.

He died on Tuesday night (June 25) at his home in Riverside, California, his publicist Chuck Jones told TMZ.

Among the many fans paying tribute to Cobbs on social media was Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph, who wrote: “Emmy winner, working actor and wonderful human being, Bill Cobbs transitioned to act on a higher stage June 25th after celebrating his 90th birthday June 16th RIP.”

Cobbs won his Emmy in 2020 for Outstanding Limited Performance in a Daytime Program after appearing on children’s show Dino Dana.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 16, 1934, Cobbs held several jobs before ever pursuing an acting career. He served in the US Air Force as a radar technician for eight years before working for IBM and as a car salesman. It was only in 1970, at the age of 36, that he moved to New York to seek stage and screen work.

Cobbs made his film debut with a brief appearance in the 1974 crime drama The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. He worked steadily through the 1980s and in 1992 landed the eye-catching role of Whitney Houston’s manager in the romantic drama The Bodyguard. In 1994, the Coen brothers cast Cobbs as Moses in The Hudsucker Proxy, a central character whose mystical ability to stop time comes to the aid of Tim Robbins’ Norville Barnes.

In 1996, Cobbs played a jazz pianist in Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do!, and followed that up by portraying the coach who decided to let a basketball-playing dog join his team in 1997’s Air Bud.

Cobbs joined the cast of The Sopranos in 2000, playing the elderly Reverend James Sr in the second season episode “Do Not Resuscitate”. In 2001 he played the blind and deaf Mr Jones in Six Feet Under, and in 2002 he appeared in The West Wing episode “Enemies Foreign and Domestic”.

Cobbs continued to work into his later years, playing the pivotal role of retirement-bound security guard Reginald in 2006’s Night at the Museum and returning for the 2014 sequel.

In a statement posted on Facebook, his brother Thomas Cobbs wrote on behalf of his family: “Bill passed away peacefully at his home in California. A beloved partner, big brother, uncle, surrogate parent, godfather and friend, Bill recently and happily celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by cherished loved ones. As a family we are comforted knowing Bill has found peace and eternal rest with his Heavenly Father. We ask for your prayers and encouragement during this time.”