George A. Cooper
Acting
Born 1925-03-07
Died 2018-11-16
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK
98 credits
Read biography
George Alphonsus Cooper was born in Leeds in 1925. After training as an electrical engineer and architect he was called up for National Service, working for the Royal Artillery in India. During that period he became interested in performing and on his discharge joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Manchester. To avoid confusion with American actor George Cooper he used his middle initial in his stage name. His first appearance on television was in 1946. Over the next fifty years, he was a regular on the screen developing a career out of portraying slightly bumbling authoritarian characters. In 1964, he won a recurring role in ITV's Coronation Street playing businessman Willie Piggott who famously tried to bribe Ken Barlow to give his son Brian a pass on his tech exam. He had regular roles in Z-Cars and Dixon of Dock Green. In 1960, he appeared in the West End play Billy Liar playing the father of the title character, later reprising the role in the 1973 television series. He appeared in comedies such as Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Sykes and Mind Your Language. In 1985, he took on the role of no-nonsense caretaker Eric Griffiths in the incredibly successful children's drama Grange Hill, playing the role for seven years and earning a place in the hearts of a generation of children. His last TV appearance was in a 1995 episode of Casualty. He died in a nursing home in Hampshire on 16th November, 2018.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 98
An Age of Kings
Play for Today
Casualty
The Avengers
The Saint
Grange Hill
Heartbeat
Theatre 625
Crown Court
The Wednesday Play
All Creatures Great and Small
No Hiding Place
Z-Cars
The Adventures of Robin Hood
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Danger Man
ITV Playhouse
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
BBC2 Play of the Week
Dr. Finlay's Casebook
The New Avengers
Justice
Public Eye
Dixon of Dock Green
Wonder Woman
Sykes
Man in a Suitcase
The Expert
Terry and June
Espionage
Doomwatch
Mind Your Language
Budgie
Sherlock Holmes
Steptoe and Son
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sergeant Cork
A Night to Remember
King of the River
Two's Company
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Shadows
Tom Jones
Saturday Playhouse
Q.E.D.
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
The Star Chamber
Fair Game
Billy Liar
The First Lady
The Bargee
Nice Work
Armchair Theatre
Start the Revolution Without Me
Okinawa
The Ronnie Barker Playhouse
Turning Year Tales
Red Monarch
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Nightmare
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