Actor
Earle Hyman is an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his recurring role on ThunderCats as the voice of Panthro and later on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable.
A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Hyman's parents, Zachariah Hyman and Maria Lilly Plummer, moved their family to Brooklyn, New York, where Hyman primarily grew up. Earle Hyman became interested in acting after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. "The first play I ever saw was a present from my parents on my 13th birthday - Nazimova in 'Ghosts' at Brighton Beach on the subway circuit - and I just freaked out."
He made his Broadway stage debut as a teenager in 1943 in Run, Little Chillun, and later joined the American Negro Theater. The following year, Hyman began a two year run playing the role of Rudolf on Broadway in Anna Lucasta, starring Hilda Simms in the title role. He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre beginning with its first season in 1955, and played the role of Othello in the 1957 season.
In 1959 he appeared in the West End in the first London production of A Raisin In the Sun alongside Kim Hamilton. The show ran at the Adelphi Theatre and was directed again by Lloyd Richards.
A life member of The Actors Studio, Hyman has appeared throughout his career in productions in both the United States and Norway (he is fluent in Norwegian) where he also owns a home on Norway's west coast and an apartment in Oslo. In 1965, won a Theatre World Award and in 1988, he was awarded the St Olav's medal for his work in Norwegian theater.
In addition to his stage work, Hyman has appeared in various television and film roles including adaptions of Macbeth (1968), Julius Caesar (1979), and Coriolanus (1979), and voiced Panthro on the animated television series ThunderCats (1985-1990). One of his most well known roles, that of Russell Huxtable in The Cosby Show, earned him an Emmy Award nomination in 1986 where he played the father of lead character Cliff Huxtable, played by actor Bill Cosby, despite only being 11 years senior to Cosby. He is the third cousin of singer Phyllis Hyman.
Character
Russell Huxtable is Cliff's father. Russell first appears in episode six of season one, titled "Breaking With Tradition". The character is named after Cosby's real-life father, Russell.
Russell Huxtable was both born in North Carolina before moving to Philadelphia and, later, New Jersey. Russell was a touring musician in the "Jazz Caravan", playing the trombone, earning the nickname "Slide" Huxtable. He, his wife, as well as Cliff and Clair, and Clair's parents, attended the civil rights March on Washington in 1963.
In the seasons two and three, Cliff and his family organized a performance for his parents' anniversaries, in the form of lip-sync and dance routines to Ray Charles' "The Night Time (Is the Right Time)" in season two, and James Brown's "I Got the Feeling" in season three.
