James Cossins
Acting
Born 1933-12-04
Died 1997-02-12
Beckenham, Kent, England, UK
95 credits
Read biography
James Cossins (4 December 1933 – 12 February 1997) was an English actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he became widely recognised as the abrupt, bewildered Mr Walt in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors" and as Mr Watson, the frustrated Public Relations training course instructor, in an episode of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
Cossins was born in Beckenham and educated at the City of London School. After serving in the Royal Air Force, he trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he won the silver medal in 1952.
Cossins first appeared in repertory theatre and at the Nottingham Playhouse. He played a wide range of characters throughout his colourful and extensive career on television and stage, often portraying blustering, pompous, crusty and cantankerous characters. Cossins appeared in Charley's Aunt at the Apollo Theatre in 1971 with Tom Courtenay, David Horovitch, Garth Forwood, Joanna McCallum, and Celia Bannerman. He appeared in more than forty films, including The Anniversary (recreating his West End stage role), and The Lost Continent (both 1968), Gandhi (1982), and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
On the small screen, Cossins appeared as a guest in a variety of shows, including The Likely Lads and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Minder, Bergerac, The Sweeney, Bless This House, Shadows, All Creatures Great and Small, Citizen Smith, Just William, The Good Life, L for Lester, Neville Dennis in Callan "Rules of the Game" (1972), Z-Cars, and as the regular character Bruce Westrop (in 1979) in Emmerdale Farm. He also played Major Bagstock in Dombey and Son (1983), and appeared in the first series of All in Good Faith in 1985. He played a magistrate in episodes of four different British sitcoms, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, The Good Life, Citizen Smith and Minder.
Cossins's later appearances were limited by ill health and he lived in semi-retirement in Surrey. Cossins died from heart disease at the age of 63, in 1997
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Filmography
— top 60 of 95
Acting
55 credits
Coronation Street
The Avengers
Minder
Crown Court
Bergerac
Theatre 625
Van der Valk
All Creatures Great and Small
The Sweeney
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Thriller
Fawlty Towers
Murder Most Horrid
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Churchill's People
The Man with the Golden Gun
Justice
Centre Play
Scrooge
Mystery and Imagination
The Pallisers
Fall of Eagles
Gandhi
Shadows
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
Citizen Smith
The Good Life
All in Good Faith
The First Great Train Robbery
Londoners
The Likely Lads
Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel
Number 10
Darling
The Ten Commandments
Death Line
Wuthering Heights
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Young Winston
Melody
The Horror of Frankenstein
Don't Forget to Write!
Follow Me!
Sphinx
Carry On Camping
Hitler: The Last Ten Days
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
The Deadly Bees
James Bond: The First 21 Years
Pretenders
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Bel Ami
The Lost Continent
Good Girl
Fear in the Night
Other credits
5 credits
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