Earle Hyman (1926-2017) was an actor who divided his time between the New York stage and film and TV work (recurring on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father Russell Huxtable, opposite Clarice Taylor). In 1969, he appeared on Sesame Street in the film insert "Big and Little" (First: Episode 0016) as Big (a tuba player).
Hyman began acting on Broadway in the 1940s, including the 1944 American Negro Theatre production of Anna Lucasta. In 1954, he had a running part as Henry Booker on the old-time radio soap opera The Story of Ruby Valentine (only the second radio soap to focus on African American actors and characters). He left to film the Columbia Pictures movie Bamboo Prison, playing the camp medic. He returned to the stage, playing Shakespeare on and off-Broadway and appearing in No Time for Sergeants (with Don Knotts). He played the title role in the short-run Mister Johnson and Vladimir in a 1957 revival of Waiting for Godot.
While continuing to act in New York (including recurring on The Edge of Night and appearances on The Defenders and anthology series), Hyman began a second career in Norway, acting on stage and starring in the 1966 Norwegian film Afrikaneren as a South African exchange student. Back in the states, he performed in the 1979 New York Shakespeare Festival production of Julius Caesar as Cicero, with Morgan Freeman, Roscoe Orman, and Jaime Sánchez. Apart from The Cosby Show, later work included extensive voice-overs, heard on the Rankin/Bass series Thundercats as Panthro and others.