sitcom performers who have phDs

[jamesanthony]

Besides Bill Cosby are there any other highly educated sitcom performers? The actress who played the daughter on Benson quit showbiz to become a psychiatrist or psychologist I heard. Cosby has an EdD which he earned in part from acting on the children's show The Electric Company in 1971-72. I wonder how he found time to take the other classes required for that degree when he was a constant fixture on tv and in movies in the late 60s-early 70s.

[ThirteenInchEscape]

I think it is common for them to get honorary PHDs in theater arts (or whatever you call them) from Universities.

Basically if you are so ever succesful in a field they say you know enough about it to be a doctor...or something

[barwars]

Originally posted by ThirteenInchEscape
I think it is common for them to get honorary PHDs in theater arts (or whatever you call them) from Universities.

Basically if you are so ever succesful in a field they say you know enough about it to be a doctor...or something

From the books I've read about Bill Cosby, he has a full-fledged PHD (for Education I believe)

He used his work on The Electric Company as the basis of his thesis. He's a very intelligent man who supports education above all else. (But, I'm sure most people know that after his recent remarks about young blacks)

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by barwars
From the books I've read about Bill Cosby, he has a full-fledged PHD (for Education I believe)

He used his work on The Electric Company as the basis of his thesis. He's a very intelligent man who supports education above all else. (But, I'm sure most people know that after his recent remarks about young blacks)

I've never read any bios about Bill Cosby. What I find unusual is that he completed a doctorate program while in show business. He broke through into the mainstream in the early 60s on The Tonight Show and with his comedy albums, then he did I Spy in 1965. Was he already a masters degree holder at that point? He was always working after that on some series or film project. I wonder if celebrities who attend university after they have become famous get special breaks that make it easier for them to get their degrees like special credits or credit for special projects that don't require them to sit in a classroom like a traditional student would. I would think that they do.