BILL COSBY has been America's Dad for more than a decade. As head of the nation's most cherished first family - on and off screen - Cosby inspires the kind of admiration and trust that the nation's president can only envy. Black political commentators even quipped during last year's election campaign that the real dream team would be Colin Powell and Bill Cosby, not necessarily in that order.

Dramatic evidence of the American public's affection was, provided last week when the murder of Cosby's only son, Ennis, virtually eclipsed the presidential inauguration.

Everybody's favourite patriarch was suddenly forced into a new role as the model of dignified suffering.

Mr Cosby met his public's expectations, offering sympathy to families who had experienced similar tragedies instead of demanding it for his own, appearing to be more concerned about the shock to the nation than to himself. Tragedy on this occasion, not comedy, confirmed his unique standing as "the black man with everyone's face".

Some observers dismissed the widespread reaction to Ennis Cosby's murder as yet another instance of gullible fans confusing reality with television. Time magazine endorsed the theory concluding that "affections nurtured by a TV show for years should not be vulnerable to sudden disruption from outside the screen".

But America's shock was more deeply rooted in the common perception, not of Bill Cosby the mourner, but of Bill Cosby the success. For the first time in recent memory, the nation confronted the fact that extraordinary wealth, even when buttressed by undeniable decency, could not ward off misfortune.

Bill Cosby, the embodiment of achievement for black and white Americans alike, might be forgiven for having shared that illusion of invulnerability. His principle of self reliance had after all, steered him out of the poverty that for many black men of his generation meant early death.

Cosby's mother was a house cleaner, his largely absent father was a mess steward in the navy and his childhood in Philadelphia was shared with two brothers and the oddly named friends who were subsequently immortalised in countless monologues - Fat Albert, Dumb Donald and Old Weird Harold.

He left school when he was 14 to join the navy where he later earned a high school diploma by correspondence. Having entered Temple University on an athletic scholarship, he planned a teaching career in physical education.

Working as a bartender at night to pay the bills, Cosby noticed that barmen who told jokes got bigger tips, and his success with customers soon developed into performances at Manhattan comedy clubs for $5 a night.

Stand up routines quickly led to television performances, to the ground breaking Cosby Show in 1984, and the dawn of what Harvard professor Louis Gates titled "the Cosby decade" in American popular culture.

"African Americans acting like human beings," was how its creator and star described The Cosby Show. It was a new idea to American television networks and the most common judgments of the first episode in September 1984 were: "It won't make money" and "No one will watch it".

The series lasted eight years, won numerous Emmy awards, earned NBC a billion dollars, was watched by more people than any other situation comedy in television's history and, in its reincarnation, continues to attract record breaking audiences.

MEDIA analysts argued that The Cosby Show was nothing more than enlightened racism it was not a realistic picture of black America it perpetuated the harmful myth of social mobility in a still racist society.

Bill Cosby was loved only because he represented "a threat contained", relieving white people of their fear and of their responsibility. Bill Cosby, when it came down to it, was not really black.

Underlying such persistent accusations is the conviction, particularly among the younger generation, that someone as rich and - more importantly - as respectable as Bill Cosby cannot be subversive.

The entertainer was, after all, the first black on the Forbes 400 Richest List with a personal fortune estimated in 1993 at more than $315 million. His share of The Cosby Show's syndication, profits is estimated at $300 million and he has endowed black educational institutions like Spellman College with donations of more than $20 million.

Cosby, who has a doctorate in education, has written books on childhood, marriage and fatherhood, and has been married to Camille Ranks for 33 years. Each of his five children has a name beginning with E, for excellence. If that record makes him a welcome antidote to O.J. Simpson, black militants argue that it also brands him as a creature of his class, not of his race.

There have been failures, however, and even a scandal. Cosby lost a fight to purchase NBC in 1992. You Bet Your Life, a TV game show, and the situation comedy Here and Now were swiftly axed in 1994 and Cosby's film career has never materialised.

More recently Autumn Jackson (22), from Los Angeles, caused tabloid frenzy by claiming to be Cosby's illegitimate daughter. She was arrested and charged with the attempted extort ion of $40 million.

The murder of Bill Cosby's son temporarily silenced his critics. It also tinged their detractions with brutal irony as the man accused of being out of touch with ordinary black America saw his son become one of the most common black American statistics of all, a young male killed by random violence.