Rudy Huxtable

Comedian Bill Cosby began developing The Cosby Show partially because he was not impressed with popular family sitcoms airing at the time, several of which he felt were too reliant on children disrespecting and disobeying their parents without suffering serious consequences.[11] Cosby was originally opposed to the idea of his show featuring children altogether, preferring to create and star in a series about a married, childless couple instead.[20] When executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner convinced Cosby to develop a sitcom about a nuclear family,[20] the comedian decided his show would feature a family of children who were obviously intelligent, "but their parents were always smarter and—most importantly—in charge."[11] Originally written as a male character,[21] Rudy was initially conceived as the youngest of only four children, two girls and two boys.[22][23] Cosby originally envisioned the youngest Huxtable child as a young boy who idolizes his older brother Theo,[11] giving him the typically masculine name "Rudy" and intending to base the character on his own sons.[20][24][25]

Actor Jaleel White was originally considered the frontrunner for the role of Rudy until Knight Pulliam auditioned.

When casting his television children, Cosby originally insisted that none of the candidates be younger than 10 years-old due to challenges he had experienced working alongside child actors prior. He warned the producers "We'll be shooting for the rest of our lives if we have a little kid!"[24] However, Carsey and Werner believed that Cosby had proven too gifted at working with children to avoid featuring them on the show altogether, and eventually convinced the comedian to audition a few six-year-old actors for the then-male role of Rudy.[22] After first auditioning in 1984,[8] actor Jaleel White was at one point considered to be the top contender for the role,[26] so much so that his agent advised his family to start preparing to relocate to New York, where The Cosby Show was scheduled to begin filming;[11] White's family had already begun packing and researching apartments within the area.[25] However, the producers still wanted to audition a few more children for the role at the last minute, one of whom was four-year-old actress Keshia Knight Pulliam,[11] who Werner had originally discovered in a then-recent television commercial for Del Monte canned corn.[22][5] Knight Pulliam's professional acting experience at the time had included advertising baby products for Johnson & Johnson and appearing in several television commercials.[27] She had already made her television debut as a series regular on the children's television show Sesame Street,[28] on which she had appeared for two seasons.[21][29][5]

Although Cosby eventually became open to the idea of young children appearing on his show, he still insisted that they not cast "little girls" because he had typically acted opposite child actresses while filming several commercials for Jell-O and feared repeating himself or appearing redundant.[20] Casting a boy in the role eventually proved difficult so the auditions were slowly opened up to girls,[30][31] prompting one of the casting directors to sneak Pulliam into one of the auditions without Cosby's prior knowledge.[20] During one of her first screen tests, director Jay Sandrich recalled that Knight Pulliam struggled to maintain eye contact with him and appeared to be constantly distracted by one of the television monitors.[22] When Sandrich questioned her behavior, the actress gestured towards the screen and said "That’s me! How can you make me on the TV?"[11] Knight Pulliam's curiosity greatly impressed Sandrich to the point of which he immediately short-listed the actress, replacing White as top choice.[11]

White recalled being present to witness Knight Pulliam's last-minute audition,[32] which the network had previously assured him was merely "a formality";[25] Warner and Bledsoe were also in attendance to audition for the roles of Theo and Vanessa, respectively,[33] as well as NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and Cosby himself.[8] Over the course of six hours,[8] the producers asked each finalist to make them laugh.[25] When the producers hand-picked the finalists, White was one of several actors who returned home upon not being selected.[25] According to Sandrich, Cosby agreed with his decision regarding Knight Pulliam's casting, explaining, "once Bill saw her, there was just no way she couldn't be on the show".[24] Although Cosby was initially hesitant to add such a young actor to the cast, he admitted to being impressed by Knight Pulliam's intelligence and ability to follow instructions, despite her young age.[22] Cosby refused to change the character's name, insisting that the name "Rudy" was equally as suitable for a girl as it is for a boy.[22] White would eventually become best known for portraying Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters.[31][26] Despite dubbing this experience his "tragic auditioning story",[33] he explained "I’m grateful that things worked out the way they did; I think it put a little more money in my pocket."[25]

In addition to changing the character from male to female by impressing the producers,[34] Knight Pulliam's casting as Rudy also affected Theo's role, who ultimately became the only son among four sisters,[11] resulting in the Huxtables mirroring Cosby's own family.[25] Rudy is believed to have been based on Cosby's daughter Evin.[23] The Huxtable household eventually grew once eldest sister Sondra was introduced in later episodes on, making Rudy the youngest of five children instead.[11] During the first few seasons, Knight Pulliam had to learn and memorize her lines phonetically because she had not yet learned how to read.[35] Her parents James and Denise often helped the actress memorize her material.[36] Additionally, she was privately tutored on the set of The Cosby Show.[5] Both Knight Pulliam and her character were considered to be personal favorites of Cosby.[29][22] Calling him "real funny",[5] Knight Pulliam particularly enjoyed when Cosby would venture away from the script in order to make his cast mates laugh.[24] Cosby would patiently advise Knight Pulliam on her acting and reward her with high fives when he was impressed by her performance.[22] On other occasions, he would playfully "steal" some of her dialogue.[22] Describing the young actress as "unbelievable", Cosby recalled that "People gravitated to her ... We never had a problem. Nobody ever had to come down from wherever they were observing and get the child and stop her from crying."[37] Knight Pulliam and Cosby's relationship extended off screen; the actress recalled that she and the comedian "had a competition going on to see who would do a better job at lip-syncing ... That was our little inside thing. I think I did a better job."[2][38] Knight Pulliam believes "There was no better foundation than to work with the talented cast with Mr. Cosby leading the way."[37]

Marilyn Marshall of Ebony observed that Knight Pulliam shares her character's friendliness, well-manners and tomboyish demeanor.[5] By the second season, Rudy's role was expanded beyond that of solely "the baby of the family",[5] and Cosby began giving the actress more mature material because she had "earned the reputation ... for rarely flubbing her lines."[36] Most of The Cosby Show's storylines tend to revolve around the three youngest children, Theo, Vanessa and Rudy.[39] Knight Pulliam would also do her homework either on set or in her dressing room in between tapings.[19] Knight Pulliam eventually matured to the point of which she outgrew the cuteness that was originally synonymous with the role, so Cosby developed a storyline that introduced Olivia Kendall (Raven-Symoné), Denise's three-year-old step-daughter via her marriage to Martin Kendall.[22][40][41] The Root contributor Erin E. Evans agreed that "With Rudy in her early teens, Olivia provided all the 'aww-ain't-she-cute' moments in the series' final seasons."[42]The A. V. Club observed that the older Rudy got the more she adopted "the storylines previously reserved for" older sister Vanessa.[40] In 1986, Knight Pulliam identified The Cosby Show as her favorite television show.[5] However, the actress voiced that she dislikes being referred to as "Rudy" when she is not in character.[5] The actress fondly remembers her first seasons on the show as her "favorite time".[19] Knight Pulliam is particularly fond of the first season episode "Happy Anniversary",[4] in which the Huxtables perform Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time" (1958) for Cliff's parents in honor of their wedding anniversary.[2] Having portrayed the character for eight years,[43] Knight Pulliam was age 13 by the time the show concluded in 1991.[44] Sandrich likened watching the actress grow to "graduating from college".[44]

As the youngest Huxtable child, Rudy was widely known as the "baby" of the family,[38][45][46] a role that eventually expanded as the character grew older.[5] AllMovie's Nathan Southern described the character as "spunky" and "pint-sized".[47] The words "precocious" and "adorable" are often used to describe the character during her earliest appearances.[48][49][50][51] Amber Ferguson, writing for the Erie Times-News, described Rudy as a "wide-eyed, innocent, a little sassy" character who "got the most attention from her parents".[7] Turner Classic Movies referred to Rudy as "outspoken" and "equal parts sugar and sass."[52] Ebony agreed that the character is "known for her smile and sass".[53] Rudy could be obstinate and difficult at times, such as when she refuses to learn to play the violin for her school music class because she would much rather play the cymbals, which had been assigned to her friend Kim (Naoka Nakagowa).[54] Rudy also has a tendency to act in a bossy manner towards some of her friends, particularly Peter and Kenny.[14] A running joke throughout the series is Rudy's decision to nickname Kenny "Bud" simply because she wants to.[55] HuffPost's Jennifer Armstrong believes Rudy's decision to rename Kenny reminds audiences that "She is in charge."[55] Knight Pulliam believes that Rudy had "mellowed out some" by the end of the series.[19]

Rudy's pigtails are considered to be her signature characteristic;[56] Biography.com's Eudie Pak described the character as a "pigtailed whippersnapper."[57] The character also exhibits traits of being a budding young feminist, specifically in her interactions with Kenny;[14] Rudy and Kenny often disagree over Kenny's sexist, chauvinistic opinions about women's issues,[55] based on misguided advice he learns from his unseen elder brother.[23][58][59]