Acting
Mar 18, 1921
Caerphilly, South Wales
Tommy Cooper
Acting
Biography
Born in Caerphilly, South Wales, at 19 Llwyn Onn Street, Trecenydd, Cooper was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family was lodging. His parents were Welsh-born army recruiting sergeant father Thomas H. (Tom) Cooper, and his English-born wife Gertrude (née Gertrude C. Wright) from Crediton, Devon. In light of the heavily polluted air and the offer of a job for his father, the family moved to Exeter, Devon, when Cooper was three and gained the West Country accent that was part of his act. The family lived in the back of Haven Banks, where Cooper attended Mount Radford School for Boys, and helped his parents run their ice cream van, which attended fairs on the weekend. At the age of eight an aunt bought Cooper a magic set and he spent hours perfecting the tricks. Magic ran in his family—his brother David (born 1930) opened a magic shop in the 1960s in Slough High Street (then Buckinghamshire now Berkshire) called D. & Z. Cooper's Magic Shop. On 15 April 1984, Cooper collapsed and soon after died from a heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live From Her Majesty's, transmitted live from Her Majesty's Theatre. His stage persona required that his act intentionally went wrong for comic purposes, leading to some initial uncertainty about whether this collapse was real.
Feature Films (21)
In his trademark fez, look of heroic confusion and perfect sense of comic timing, Tommy Cooper could have an audience in his pocket before he even said a word. Then the jokes would flow, the tricks fall flat and an open-mouthed Cooper would reduce them once more to helplessness. And so, for 30 years, this burly, gangly, seemingly incompetent magician dominated light entertainment television. This compilation features Tommy Cooper at his best: from his early TV show It's Magic to his Variety Show turns, and from his famous chat show appearances to his performances on his own TV shows in the 1970s.
The Best of Tommy Cooper
Who could ever forget the great Tommy Cooper? A legend in his own lifetime and now sadly missed by all his fans. Here you'll find two programmes shown on UK TV containing some of his most hilarious sketches to enjoy again and again.
Tommy Cooper - Just Like That
A slapstick comedy about two workmen delivering planks to a building site. This is done with music and a sort of "wordless dialogue" which consists of a few mumbled sounds to convey the appropriate emotion.
The Plank
A silent slapstick comedy depicting the travails of young couple moving into a new home, who hire an accident-prone firm of house removers, headed by Sykes. It features an all-star cast including Tommy Cooper, Bernard Cribbins, Jimmy Edwards, Irene Handl, Bob Todd and Andrew Sachs.
It's Your Move
Sir Michael Parkinson looks back over his 50 years as a broadcaster, revealing some tricks of the interview trade and remembering some of his favourite encounters.
Parkinson at 50
Dickie Dreadnought is the boxing-mad nephew of pious clergyman Reverend Sydney Mullet. To mollify his disapproving uncle, Dickie embarks on an elaborate plan to keep his budding boxing career a secret, with he and his tough-talking promoter Wally Burton both pretending to be devout 'men of the cloth'.
And the Same to You
Television & Series (11)
'Tragic magic' rules in this six-part series from 1978, which saw Tommy Cooper at the height of his fame.
Cooper - Just Like That
An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
