Bill Cosby, now marred by scandal, was an important performer in the 1970s and 1980s. He not only developed a good, wholesome family sitcom featuring a middle-class black family, he also had good educational programs in the 1970s.
I did a TLIAD where someone has to replace him at the last minute in 1984, too late to cancel the show so they had get another person, and I went with Jimmy Walker as someone who had at least starred in a sitcom and seemed able to play the dad and be the right age, but there were other options, including going with a respected black athlete and hoping they could act a little. (That would be an interesting one for someone else to do.)
However, going back over a decade, there's more leeway. Flip Wilson (who I only later realized was the right age and might have been better for my time line in a day) is only one of several possibilities. There's people like Nipsey Russell (who I considered for the TLIAD - imagine him breaking into impromptu rhyme as he delivers his lines) or a combo or even someone who died OTL. Their career track doing such things would start around 1970 along with whatever they did before. Even if it wasn't acting..
I can neither confirm or deny plans to mention this in the Selma Massacre thread. I actually think Nipsy Russel and his impromptu rhyming would fit well just to satisfy the Rule of Cool; more likely as Fat Albert. But, if lots have a better idea, especially for an '80s sitcom, that would be great, too.
Which reminds me, what did he star in, anyway? I just remember him being a game show panelist growing up, which is why he didn't get more consideration for my time line. But a pod years earlier makes a difference.