[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.

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.

[5] Cobb credited Reuben Silver with his start in acting at the African American Performing Arts Center and Karamu House Theatre in Cleveland.

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.

[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 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.