| Rudy Huxtable | |
|---|---|
| The Cosby Show character | |
 Actress Keshia Knight Pulliam in character as Rudy Huxtable. | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" (September 20, 1984) |
| Last appearance | "And So We Commence" (April 30, 1992) |
| Created by | Bill Cosby |
| Portrayed by | Keshia Knight Pulliam |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Rudith Lillian Huxtable |
| Occupation | Student |
| Family | Cliff Huxtable (father) Clair Huxtable (mother) Sondra Huxtable (sister) Denise Huxtable (sister) Theo Huxtable (brother) Vanessa Huxtable (sister) |
| Relatives |
|
| Nationality | American |
Rudith Lillian "Rudy" Huxtable[1][2][3][4] is a fictional character who appears on the American sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992). Portrayed by actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rudy is the youngest child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable. First appearing alongside her family in the pilot episode "Theo's Economic Lesson", which premiered on September 20, 1984, Rudy matures from a precocious five-year-old girl into a teenager longing for independence throughout the course of the series' eight year-long run.
Created by comedian Bill Cosby, Rudy was intended to be a boy; actor Jaleel White had been considered the first choice for the role until Knight Pulliam impressed the show's producers once auditions had finally been opened to girls. Having been opposed to the idea of featuring young children, particularly young girls, on his show because he feared that they would prove difficult to work with, Cosby was hesitant to cast Knight Pulliam due to her young age at the time. However, he was ultimately impressed by both her maturity and ability to memorize lines, subsequently re-writing the character into a younger, female role but refused to change her name from the more masculine-sounding "Rudy". By the second season, Cosby began entrusting Knight Pulliam with more mature material. Rudy was inspired by Cosby's youngest daughter Evin.
Both the character and Knight Pulliam's performance immediately garnered widespread acclaim from entertainment critics. Knight Pulliam was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1986, becoming the youngest performer to be nominated for an Emmy Award; the scene in which she lip-syncs to Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time" has garnered significant attention. Her role as Rudy eventually established her as a child star. However, critics have observed that Knight Pulliam's once-reliable "cuteness" began to falter and grow less funny towards the show's latter seasons as both the actress and her character aged.
- ^ "The Cosby Show". NBC News. November 16, 2009. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ Reid, Shaheem (February 12, 2004). "Little Rudy Huxtable All Grown Up in Chingy's 'One Call' Clip". MTV. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ Haggins, Bambi (2007). Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post-soul America. United States: Rutgers University Press. p. 32. ISBN 9780813539850. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017 – via Google Books.
- ^ "The Best Episodes of The Cosby Show". episode.ninja. Archived from the original on December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
Theo and the Joint ... Rudy says her full name in this episode, Rudith Lillian Huxtable.
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