Person Details

Birthday: 1925-03-07 15:34:36

Death: 2018-11-16 15:34:36

Aliases: No known aliases

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 26

TV Involvements: 17


Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

The Saint
Average
7

The Saint

(1962) Milton Ourley
The Avengers
Average
8

The Avengers

(1961) Burgess
Wonder Woman
Average
7

Wonder Woman

(1975) Gen. Clewes
Casualty
Average
6

Casualty

(1986) Albert Collins
Heartbeat
Average
7

Heartbeat

(1992) Walter Pettigrew
A Night to Remember
Average
8

A Night to Remember

(1958) Carpathia Purser Hughes (uncredited)
Grange Hill
Average
7

Grange Hill

(1978) Mr. Griffiths
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave
Average
7

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave

(1968) Village Landlord

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1994 George
1992 Walter Pettigrew
1989 Mr. Wilcox Snr
1986 Albert Collins
1984 Alf
Will Johnson
1983 State Senator Walden
Kaganovitch
1978 King
Mr. Griffiths
Mr. Twitchell
Mr. Crump
1976 Burt Brandon
2nd Leather Jerkin
Porter
1975 The Pirate King (voice)
Gen. Clewes
Mr. Begley
N/A
1973 N/A
N/A
1972 Ashcroft
N/A
Trouncer
Lionel
Mr Wilson
1971 Supt. George Grover
Inspector Beedel
N/A
Manager
(voice)
1970 Ted Crampton
Frank Palmer
Blacket
N/A
Dr. Duval
Thomas Prentice
1968 Village Landlord
Supt. Kingsley
Arnold Bottomley
N/A
N/A
1967 Irishman
N/A
Mr. Winter
1966 Cherub
N/A
1965 Graffham
Mr. Lumsden
N/A
Alec Payton
1964 N/A
John
Official in Office
1963 N/A
Mr. Fitzpatrick
Fred
1962 Harold Laker
Milton Ourley
Thomas Gabler
Tom Farquhar
Examiner (Uncredited)
N/A
1961 Burgess
1960 N/A
Doug Savage
1959 N/A
1958 Carpathia Purser Hughes (uncredited)
Chief Inspector
1957 Hotel Porter
Harry
1955 Topper Brown
Jackson
Monty Pitman
1952 Yeoman
Year Character Movie/Tv

Join the discussion

Please Log in to comment