lt. martin kendall played denise husband on the cosby show.
lt. martin kendall played denise husband on the cosby show.
who played denise husband on the cosby show?
lt. martin kendall
having spent the majority of season five away on maternity leave, bonet resumed her role on "the cosby show" full-time after giving birth to daughter zoë kravitz; denise returns home after secretly marrying lt. martin kendall, a naval officer she had met while working in africa, becoming stepmother to his three year-old daughter olivia (raven-symoné). actor joseph c. phillips, who portrays martin, originally appeared in an early episode of "the cosby show" as one of sondra's love interests before he was recast as denise's husband for the remainder of the series. the sixth season premiere "denise: the saga continues", in which denise returns home to brooklyn unannounced and introduces her parents to her new family, established the sitcom's season premieres as episodes in which a huxtable child would inform their parents about very surprising news. bonet would continue to appear on the show regularly over the course of the next several episodes until cosby fired her from the series altogether at the end of season seven, officially citing "creative differences". the season's 24th episode "cliff and jake", which aired on april 11, 1991, marks bonet's final appearance on the show. cosby claims that he fired bonet because "the cosby show"'s material was no longer challenging for her, blaming himself for her character lacking in development: "it's not funny to have someone 21 acting like she's still about 12." however, he commended bonet's acting talent. cosby then decided that bonet's screen time would be divided among "new kids on the show who are working hard, studying so heard and really deserve a shot during what will be our final year." introduced during the show's later seasons, pam tucker (erika alexander), a cousin of the huxtable family, is considered to be a "replacement" for denise; styleblazer believes that pam was created because the sitcom "needed another character to play a free-spirited problem child."
denise huxtable
bonet's controversial role in "angel heart" was met with strong backlash from devoted "cosby show" fans, some of whom felt that she had betrayed denise's "wholesome" image. some media headlines, such as "usa today"'s "x has cosby kid's film on spot", gave readers the impression that "all 77 million weekly watchers are outraged by the behavior of their little denise", according to trustman senger of "the washington post". the fact that bonet, a "cosby show" cast member, had been cast in a sex scene with co-star mickey rorke garnered far more media coverage than whether or not the film deserved the x rating it had originally been assigned. maintaining that he had never seen an episode of "the cosby show" prior to casting bonet, "angel heart" director alan parker admitted he was unprepared for the public's reaction, elaborating, "i was naive not to realize ... what she represented within that show was maybe a role model for young black american kids." when the film was released, an overwhelming number of "the cosby show" fans asked bonet to reveal what cosby thought of her performance. cosby eventually said that he was not particularly fond of bonet's role in the film, which he dismissed as "a movie made by white america that cast a black girl, gave her voodoo things to do and have sex." "envisioning black feminist voodoo aesthetics: african spirituality in american cinema" author kameelah l. martin believes that cosby's avoidance of the film only augmented the controversy surrounding bonet's role. victor valle of the "los angeles times" wondered if the sex scene would harm bonet's "wholesome tv image" on both "the cosby show" and the then-upcoming "a different world". maintaining that she had been unaware of denise's wholesome reputation prior to appearing in "angel heart", bonet insisted "my obligation wasn't to denise. i felt obligated to myself and my career."
denise huxtable