Phylicia Rashad Movies

Disapproving of her daughter Denise's plans to go to Greece with Maggie (Marisa Tomei) during summer vacation, Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad, making a "crossover" appearance from The Cosby Show) insists that Denise (Lisa Bonet) get a summer job. Does this mean that Maggie will have to journey to the Mediterranean alone? (Not likely). Meanwhile, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) is down in the dumps when it appears that everyone has forgotten her birthday. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Making another crossover appearance from The Cosby Show, Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) arrives at Hillman College to conduct a business-etiquette seminar. She also hopes to persuade her daughter Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) to enroll in Hillman, but Vanessa turns out to have other plans. At the same time, Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) turns to Clair for help after an important job interview with Kinishewa Electronics goes horribly wrong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan, and John Stamos all return to reprise the roles they originally played on Broadway in this made for television take on Lorraine Hansbury's timeless play about a 1950s-era Chicago family longing for a better life. Walter Lee has died, and now his widow Lena Younger (Rashad) is about to receive a $10,000 check from her late-husband's insurance company. Everyone in the family dreams about the ways their lives will be changed with the arrival of the money, family matriarch Lena - who longs to retire from her job as a domestic servant for a wealthy white family - in particular. Having lived in a one room tenement apartment ever since she and her late husband originally married, Lena is eager to purchase a house of her own and provide her family with a real home. Lena's son Walter Lee, Jr. (Combs), currently employed as a chauffer, and has recently become taken with the idea of purchasing a liquor store as a means of solving his family's financial woes. Like her mother-in-law, Walter's wife Ruth (McDonald) is also a domestic servant for a white family, and dreams of the day she can walk away from her job. While Walter's sister Beneatha (Lathan) strives to become a medical professional, tuition is expensive and she is currently being pursued by two men - wealthy but superficial George Murchison (Sean Patrick Thomas) and intellectual classmate Joseph Asagai (David Oyelowo). Much to everyone's surprise, Lena uses the lion's share of the money to purchase a home in the all-white residential neighborhood of Cllaybourne, splitting the remainder between Walter (for his entrepreneurial endeavor) and Beneatha (for tuition). Around the same time Walter loses his share of the inheritance to a smooth talking con man who claimed he could help finance the liquor store, the Claybourne "home improvement" association makes the discovery that the Youngers are black and sends emissary Mr. Lindner (John Stamos) to try prevent their neighborhood from becoming integrated by buying the house back. Now faced with the prospect of losing it all, Walter considers making a deal with Mr. Lindner in order to recover his losses. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Kirstie Alley earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in this moving made-for-TV drama. She plays Sally Goodson, the devoted mother of autistic child David. Abandoned by her husband years before, Sally has sacrificed much for her son but has felt it in his best interest. One of the key things she accomplished was keeping her son out of the institution that the government feels is in his best interest. Unfortunately, she could not avoid "the System" forever and when a well-meaning social worker learns that the boy is still in Sally's care, a heated battle ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Made especially for the Showtime cable network, this touching drama stars Sidney Poitier and his daughter Sydney Poitier, respectively, as a prominent New York businessman and the feisty, troubled teen he mentors. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Kwyn Bader debuts with this romantic comedy about finding the right woman at the wrong time. Theodorus (Hill Harper) has a knack for falling for "Jezebels," women who are already involved with someone else. His romantic misadventures begin in Kindergarten and continue with a platonic relationship with beautiful acting student Frances (Nicole Ari Parker), a fling with a teddy bear-obsessed lass, and a passionate crush on fledgling poet and very married Samantha (Laurel Holloman). Loving Jezebel was screened at the 1999 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

There were those in 1989 who bellyached that Disney Television's Polly was a far from faithful adaptation of Eleanor Porter's classic novel Pollyanna. What they meant was that Polly did not resemble the 1960 Hayley Mills movie version of Pollyanna, which itself played fast and loose with the source material. In Polly, The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam portrays the "Glad Girl" who brings along a satchelful of happiness and optimism when she visits her wealthy aunt one summer. Tranposing Porter's all-white story to a middle-class black community in the Alabama of the 1950s (Celeste Holm is the only white costar) isn't nearly as self-conscious or gimmicky as it seems on paper. Nor is any damage done to the original by adding musical numbers, especially when taking into consideration that the film was directed by renowned choreographer Debbie Allen (the sister of Phylicia Rashad, who plays Polly's aunt--and who in 1989 was costarring with Keshia Knight Pulliam on a weekly basis on The Cosby Show). Polly scored a boffo ratings hit, prompting Disney TV to assemble a 1990 sequel, Polly: Comin' Home! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mother Goose is a favorite of parents and children alike. Actress Phylicia Rashad brings these nursery rhymes to life. The viewer watches a cast of children and animals perform such favorites as "Old Mother Hubbard", "This Little Pig", "Old King Cole", and "Three Little Kittens". Also, the work of the stage crew is shown, to help children understand that there is more to a play than what is seen from the audience. Composer Jason Miles provides music to accompany each of the 36 nursery rhymes. ~ Linda J. Shriver, All Movie Guide

The series that literally rescued the moribund situation comedy genre from oblivion, NBC's The Cosby Show made its first appearance on September 20, 1984. By the time its first season was over, the series was the second-highest-rated program in the country, enabling NBC to build a brand-new sitcom empire with such popular offerings as Frasier, Seinfeld, and Friends. Bill Cosby was of course the creator of the series, in concert with the Carsey-Werner Company, whose later efforts included Roseanne, 3rd Rock From the Sun, and That '70s Show. Cosby played the leading character, Dr. Cliff Huxtable, a successful obstetrician who lived in a fashionable Brooklyn townhouse with his attorney wife, Clair (played by Phylicia Ayers-Allen, later billed as Phylicia Rashad). The couple's children included daughters Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) and son Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner). Among the many other characters were Cliff's dad, Russell (Earle Hyman), and mom, Anna (Clarice Taylor); Sondra's boyfriend -- and later husband -- Elvin Tibedeaux (Geoffrey Owens); Theo's pal Cockroach (Carl Anthony Payne II); Rudy's friends Peter (Peter Costa) and Kenny (Deon Richmond); Vanessa's boyfriend Dabnis (William Thomas Jr.); Clair's second cousin, Bedford-Stuyvesant refugee Pam Turner (Erika Alexander); and Pam's friends Slida (Mushond Lee), Charmaine (Karen Malina White), and Lance (Allen Payne). Also, after briefly leaving the series to star in her own series, A Different World, Lisa Bonet returned in the role of Denise, then-married to Lt. Martin Kendall (Joseph C. Phillips) and stepmother of Martin's daughter, Olivia (Raven-Symone). Increasing the number of family members were Sondra and Elvin's twin children, Winnie and Nelson, played during the series' final season by Jessica Vaughn and Gary Gray. Unlike many sitcoms with African-American casts, The Cosby Show did not overemphasize its racial aspects, nor did it traffic in stereotypical characters or dialogue. Put simply, the Huxtables could have been any upper-middle-class family of any color, and it was their normality and universality that made the series a hit with viewers from all ethnic groups. The winner of innumerable industry awards, and America's top-rated sitcom for a remarkable five years in a row, The Cosby Show finished its network run on September 17, 1992, and has been a welcome fixture in the syndicated-rerun field ever since. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season two of The Cosby Show begins with all six members of the Huxtable family of Brooklyn present and accounted for: obstetrician Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby); his attorney wife, Clair (Phylicia Rashad); their daughters, Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf, previously recurring and now a regular), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam); and son Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), whose oft-repeated "No problem!" has by now become a national catchphrase. This season is distinguished by "Happy Anniversary," an episode cited by many sources (including TV Guide) as one of the best TV half-hours ever (how could it be any less, with the entire Huxtable family lip-synching to Ray Charles' "The Night Time Is the Right Time"?) Also, in the episode "Cliff in Love," Geoffrey Owens makes his first series appearance as Elvin Tibideaux, Sondra Huxtable's future husband -- and, ironically, Joseph C. Phillips, who would later portray Denise's husband Martin Kendall, is seen in the same episode in the role of Darryl Marchamp, Elvin's rival for Sondra's affections! And a later installment, "Theo and Cockroach," introduces Carl Anthony Payne II as Theo's pal Walter "Cockroach" Bradley, a character heretofore unseen and only talked about. (Incidentally, this is the same episode in which series regular Phylicia Ayers-Allen officially changes her screen billing to her married name, Phylicia Rashad). Now the number one-rated series in America -- a status it would maintain for the next five years! -- The Cosby Show was also the winner of an Emmy award for Best Editing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Most of the familiar characters established during the first three seasons of The Cosby Show are still in attendance as the series launches its fourth season: obstetrician Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby), his attorney wife, Clair (Phylicia Rashad), daughters Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), and son Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner). Conspicuous by her absence is daughter Denise (Lisa Bonet), whose adventures at Hillman College are this season being enacted on the character's own sitcom, A Different World. Denise does, however, make a few return appearances in such episodes as "Home for the Weekend." Also, oldest daughter Sondra isn't around much any more, since she is now the wife of Elvin Tibideaux (Geoffrey Owens, who has become a regular cast member). Conversely, one actor makes four very prominent appearances in the role of Theo's pal Smitty: that actor is Adam Sandler, several years removed from his Saturday Night Live and motion-picture superstardom. Still the number one-rated TV show in America, The Cosby Show would manage to hold on to this status for the next two years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The sixth season of The Cosby Show marks the full-time return of actress Lisa Bonet in the role of Denise Huxtable, second of four daughters of obstetrician Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) and his attorney wife, Clair (Phylicia Rashad). Bonet had been on maternity leave throughout much of season five, so it was explained that Denise had gone to Africa to work as a photographer's assistant. Now she's back, with a new husband in tow, Navy lieutenant Martin Kendall (played by new series regular Joseph C. Phillips). But wait, there's more: Denise is now also the stepmother of Martin's three-year-old daughter, Olivia (played by another new regular, Raven-Symone). Though the Kendalls move to Rhode Island, the Brooklyn-dwelling Huxtable parents remain in very close contact -- as they do with their other married daughter, Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), now living with her husband, Elvin (Geoffrey Owens) and their twin children, Nelson and Winnie (played in one episode -- and only in one episode -- by Clayton Griggs and Domonique Reynolds). As for the other Huxtable kids, Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) and Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) are still living at home, while college student Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) has moved into a tiny apartment. The Cosby Show remained firmly in the number-one ratings slot throughout season six -- though it was tied with another sitcom from the Carsey-Werner factory, Roseanne. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide