Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who has died aged 54, having drowned while swimming off the coast of Costa Rica, gained fame worldwide as the cool, charming, occasionally mischievous son of Bill Cosby in one of American television’s most popular sitcoms. The Cosby Show, which ran between 1985 and 1992, was groundbreaking in featuring an affluent African American family in Brooklyn, New York: Cosby starred as Cliff Huxtable, an obstetrician, and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair, a lawyer, with Warner as their middle child, Theo, and Sabrina Le Beauf, Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe and Keishia Knight Pulliam as their daughters.
Cliff and Clair were portrayed as loving and nurturing, but strict, parents. When auditioning for the role of Theo during the final round of a nationwide search, Warner was far from what Cosby – who co-created the sitcom – wanted. “They were looking for a 6ft 2in 15-year-old,” he recalled, “and I was 5ft 5in and 13. I played those scenes like you see kids on television, kind of smart-alecky, and when Cliff said something, I got my hand on my hips and [was] rolling my eyes.” Cosby was unimpressed. “Would you really talk to your father like that?” he asked. “No,” said Warner. “Well, I don’t want to see that on this show,” said the star.
