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 Bill Cosby is one of the United States' most popular and admired entertainers, known for his wit and warmth both onstage and off. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start working clubs and making comedy albums, then moved into television with a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show, in the early 1970s. He was one of the major characters on the children's television show The Electric Company for its first two seasons, and created the humorous educational cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, about a group of young friends growing up in the city. Cosby also acted in numerous films, although none has received the acclaim of his television work. During the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in what is considered one of the decade's defining cultural sitcoms, The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992. The sitcom featured an upper-class African-American family without resorting to the kinds of stereotypes previously seen among African-Americans in prime-time television. While some argued that The Cosby Show ignored the issues of racial inequity still prevalent in society, many agreed that it showcased positive role models. The late 1990s brought trouble for Cosby, first in early 1997 with the death of his only son, Ennis, who was shot to death on a Los Angeles freeway in a random act of violence. Also that year, he was dragged into a court case that involved a young woman who was charged with extortion in claiming that he was her biological father - a shocking accusation that Cosby denied. Cosby admitted to having a one-time affair with the woman's mother.