Tommy Cooper

Cooper worked between 1921 and 1984 across actor, comedian, magician, stage actor and television actor. This article rests on 10 published texts and 1 issued recordings drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

• Name — Tommy Cooper • Birth Name — Thomas Frederick Cooper • Born — 19 March 1921 • Birthplace — Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales • Died — 15 April 1984 • Place of death — Her Majesty's Theatre, Westminster, London, England • Monuments — Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne, East Sussex,[33] England • Occupation — * Comedian • magician • actor • Height — 6 ft • Years Active — 1947–1984 • Children — 2, including Thomas Thomas Frederick Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a Welsh[1][2] prop comedian, actor, entertainer and magician.[5] He was large and lumbering at 6 ft and habitually wore a red fez when performing.[3] He served in the British Army for seven years before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle. Although he spent time on tour performing his magical act, which specialised in magic tricks that appeared to fail, he rose to international prominence when his career moved into television, with programmes for London Weekend Television and Thames Television. By the end of the 1970s, Cooper smoked and drank heavily, which affected his career and his health, effectively ending offers to front new programmes and relegating him to the role of guest star on other entertainment shows. On 15 April 1984, Cooper died at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack on live television.[4]

Thomas Frederick Cooper was born on 19 March 1921 at 19 Llwyn-On Street in Caerphilly, Glamorgan. He was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family were lodging. His parents were Thomas H. Cooper, a Welsh recruiting sergeant in the British Army and later coal miner, and Catherine Gertrude (née Wright), Thomas's English wife from Crediton, Devon.[6] To change from his mining role in Caerphilly, which could have had implications for his health, his father accepted the offer of a new job and the family moved to Exeter, Devon, when Cooper was three.[7] As an adult and on a visit to Wales to visit the house where he was born, Cooper was asked if he considered himself to be a Welshman, to which he answered, "Well yes, my father's Welsh... and my mother's from Devon. Actually I was in Caerphilly and left here when I was about a year old, I was getting very serious with a girl". When Cooper was eight years old, an aunt bought him a magic set, and he spent hours perfecting the tricks.[8] In the 1960s, his brother David (born 1930[9]) opened D. & Z. Cooper's Magic Shop at 249 High Street in Slough, Buckinghamshire.[10] The shop later moved to Eastbourne, East Sussex and was run by David's daughter Sabrina.[11] After leaving school, Cooper became a shipwright in Southampton, Hampshire. In 1940, he was called up as a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards, serving for seven years. He joined Montgomery's Desert Rats in Egypt. Cooper became a member of a Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) entertainment party, and developed an act around his magic tricks interspersed with comedy. One evening in Cairo, during a sketch in which he was supposed to be in a costume that required a pith helmet and having forgotten the prop, Cooper reached out and borrowed a fez from a passing waiter, which got huge laughs.[12] He wore a fez when performing after that, the prop later being described as "an icon of 20th-century comedy".[13]

Cooper was demobilised after seven years of military service and took up show business on Christmas Eve 1947. He later developed a popular monologue about his military experience as "Cooper the Trooper". He worked in variety theatres around the country and at many night spots in London, performing as many as 52 shows in one week.[14] Cooper developed his conjuring skills and became a member of The Magic Circle, but there are various stories about how and when he developed his delivery of "failed" magic tricks: • He was performing to his shipbuilding colleagues when everything went wrong, but he noticed that the failed tricks got laughs. • He started making "mistakes" on purpose when he was in the Army. • His tricks went wrong at a post-war audition, but the panel thoroughly enjoyed them anyway. To keep the audience on their toes, Cooper would throw in an occasional trick that worked when it was least expected.

Cooper was influenced by Laurel and Hardy,[15] Will Hay, Max Miller, Bob Hope, and Robert Orben.[17] In 1947, Cooper was booked by Miff Ferrie, a musician, to appear in a show starring the sanding dance act Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils. This was followed by a European tour and work in pantomime, and concluded with a season at the Windmill Theatre. Ferrie remained Cooper's sole agent for 37 years, until Cooper's death in 1984. Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his image as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work that raised him to national prominence. After his debut on the BBC talent show New to You in March 1948, he began starring in his own shows. He remained popular with audiences for nearly 40 years, notably through his work with London Weekend Television from 1968 to 1972 and with Thames Television from 1973 to 1980. Thanks to his many television shows during the mid-1970s, he was at his peak one of the most recognisable comedians in the world. John Fisher wrote in his biography of Cooper: "Everyone agrees that he was mean. Quite simply he was acknowledged as the tightest man in show business, with a pathological dread of reaching into his pocket." One of Cooper's stunts was to pay exact fare in a taxi and then when leaving the cab slip a tea bag into the taxi driver's pocket, saying "have a drink on me."[18] By the mid-1970s, alcohol had started to erode Cooper's professionalism, and club owners complained that he turned up late or rushed through his show in five minutes. In addition, he suffered from chronic indigestion, low back pain, sciatica, bronchitis and severe circulation problems in his legs. When Cooper realised the extent of his maladies, he cut down on his drinking, and his act regained energy and confidence. However, he never stopped drinking and could be fallible: on an otherwise triumphant appearance with Michael Parkinson, he forgot to set the safety catch on the guillotine illusion into which he had cajoled Parkinson, and only a last-minute intervention by the floor manager saved Parkinson from serious injury or worse.[19] Cooper was a heavy cigar smoker (up to 40 a day) as well as an excessive drinker.[20] He suffered a heart attack on 22 April 1977 while performing a show in Rome.[21] Three months later, he was back on television in Night Out at the London Casino. By 1980, his drinking meant that Thames Television would not give him another starring series, and Cooper's Half Hour was his last. He did continue to appear as a guest on other television shows, however, and worked with Eric Sykes on two Thames productions in 1982.

Cooper married Gwen Henty in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 24 February 1947. She died in 2002.[22] They had two children: Thomas, who was born in 1956, became an actor under the name Thomas Henty, and died in 1988; and Victoria. From 1967 until his death, Cooper also had a relationship with his personal assistant, Mary Fieldhouse (aka Mary Kay, the wife of composer Norman Kay), who wrote about it in her book, For the Love of Tommy (1986).[23] On Christmas Day 2018, the documentary Tommy Cooper: In His Own Words was broadcast on Channel 5. The programme featured Cooper's daughter, Vicky, who gave her first television interview following years of abstaining "because of the grief".[24] Cooper's niece, Sabrina Cooper, was murdered in 2022. She ran a local magic shop in Eastbourne.[25]

On 15 April 1984, Cooper collapsed from a heart attack in front of 12 million viewers midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live from Her Majesty's, transmitted live from Her Majesty's Theatre in Westminster, London.[26] An assistant had helped him put on a cloak for his sketch while Jimmy Tarbuck, the host, was hiding behind the stage curtains waiting to pass him different props that he would then appear to pull from inside his gown.[27] His last words seemed to be "thank you, love", to the assistant, seconds before collapsing. The assistant smiled at him as he slumped down, believing that it was part of the act.[28] Likewise, the audience laughed as he fell backwards, as a hand (possibly Tarbuck's) briefly appeared from behind the curtain to reach out towards Cooper. As Cooper lay on the floor, the audience continued to laugh at him, believing he was making a joke about how long it had taken him to button up the cloak he had on. Tarbuck, director Alasdair MacMillan, and crew behind the curtain who witnessed the incident realised that Cooper had genuinely collapsed. The laughter from the audience began to die down as they realised that Cooper was unable to get back up. In the wings, show producer David Bell asked Cooper's son if the fall was part of the act. He replied that his father had a bad back and would thus be unable to get back up if he had fallen on purpose, implying that it had not been done on purpose.[29] Once it became apparent that Cooper was in trouble, Alasdair MacMillan cued the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break (noticeable because of several seconds of blank screen while London Weekend Television's master control contacted regional stations to start transmitting advertisements) and Tarbuck's manager tried to pull Cooper back through the curtains. It was decided to continue with the show. Dustin Gee and Les Dennis were the act that followed Cooper and performed in the limited space in front of the curtains. Two stools were positioned on either side of the protrusion from behind the curtain where Cooper had collapsed, while efforts were being made to revive him. The following act, Howard Keel, performed as Cooper was moved (evident by twitching of the curtains as he sang and the disappearance of the protrusion as he finished performing). After another commercial break, the curtain was removed, and Cooper was taken by ambulance to Westminster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 63 years old. His death was not officially reported until the next morning, although the incident was the leading item on the news programme that followed the show. Cooper's funeral was held at Mortlake Crematorium in London, and his son scattered his ashes in the back garden, over his father's favourite daffodils.[30][31] There are memorials to Cooper, his wife Gwen, and their son Thomas, on his wife's family grave at Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne, East Sussex. Cooper's estate was proved by probate at. The video of Cooper's heart attack on stage has been uploaded to numerous video-sharing websites. YouTube drew criticism from a number of sources when footage of the incident was posted on the website in May 2009. John Beyer of the pressure group Mediawatch-UK said: "This is very poor taste. That the broadcasters have not repeated the incident shows they have a respect for him and I think that ought to apply also on YouTube." On 28 December 2011, segments of the Live from Her Majesty's clip, including Cooper collapsing on stage, were included in the Channel 4 programme The Untold Tommy Cooper.[34][35]

• Year — Title — TV company — Episodes • 1948 — New To You — BBC — 1 • 1948 — Comedy Capers — BBC — 1 • 1952 — It's Magic — BBC — 8 • 1953–1979 — The Royal Variety Performance — BBC / ATV — 7 • 1955 — Sunday Night at the London Palladium — ATV — 1 • 1957 — Cooper / Life With Tommy — A-RTV — 12 • 1957 — The Tommy Cooper Hour — ATV — 1 • 1958 — The Stars Rise in the West — TWW — 1 • 1958 — Cooper's Capers — ATV — 6 • 1959 — After Hours — ABC — 1 • 1960 — And the Same to You — Film — 1 • 1963 — The Cool Mikado — Film — 1 • 1966 — Cooperama — ABC — 7 • 1966–1969 — Life with Cooper — ABC / Thames — 19 • 1967 — The Plank — Film — 1 • 1967 — Spotlight — ATV — 1 • 1967 — Sykes Versus ITV — ABC — 1 • 1968 — Cooper King-Size — Thames — 1 • 1968 — Cooper At Large — Thames — 1 • 1969–1971 — Tommy Cooper / It's Tommy Cooper — LWT — 13 • 1973–1975 — The Tommy Cooper Hour — Thames — 9 • 1975 — Cooper — Thames — 6 • 1976 — Tommy Cooper's Guest Night — Thames — 1 • 1977 — Night Out at the London Casino — Thames — 1 • 1977 — The Silver Jubilee Royal Variety Gala — ATV — 1 • 1977 — 30 Years... Just Like That! — Thames — 1 • 1978–1979 — London Night Out — Thames — 2 • 1978 — The Tommy Cooper Show — Thames — 1 • 1978 — Cooper – Just Like That — Thames — 6 • 1978 — Must Wear Tights — Thames — 1 • 1979 — Parkinson at Christmas — BBC — 1 • 1980 — Cooper's Half Hour — Thames — 6 • 1982 — It's Your Move — Thames — 1 • 1982 — The Eric Sykes 1990 Show — Thames — 1 • 1983 — This Is Your Lunch — BBC — 1 • 1983 — The Bob Monkhouse Show — BBC — 1 • 1984 — Live from Her Majesty's — LWT — 1

Tommy Cooper is recorded with the occupation television actor. Established in Bibliothèque nationale de France under 17806672g. Established in Library of Congress under nr2006007931. Established in Open Library under OL4999050A. Tommy Cooper is established in ISNI under 000000011755127X. Tommy Cooper is recorded as actor, comedian and magician. Established in Discogs under 644073. Established in FAST under 1638797. Identity and origins. Recorded at birth as Thomas Frederick Cooper. The authorities additionally record the heading Thomas Frederick Cooper. His recorded language was English. One child is recorded: Thomas Henty.

• "Don't Jump Off the Roof Dad" (1961), words and music by Cy Coben, single, Palette Records PG 9019 (reached Number 40 in the UK Singles Chart)[57] • "Ginger" – 7" single • "Happy Tommy" – 7" single • "Just Like That" 7" single • "Masters of Comedy" – CD • "No Arms Will Ever Hold You" – 7" single • "Sweet Words of Love" – 7" single • "Tommy Cooper Very Best Of" – CD, DVD • "Walkin' Home From School" – 7" single • "We'll Meet Again" – 7" single

• VHS title — Release date • A Tribute to Tommy Cooper (TV9936) — 3 November 1986 • The Magic of Tommy Cooper - Tribute to a Comedy Genius (TV8091) — 4 June 1990 • The Very Best of Tommy Cooper (TV8141) — 19 August 1991 • Tommy Cooper - "Not Like That" (TV8160) — 1 June 1992 • Tommy Cooper - Solid Gold (TV8169) — 5 October 1992 • The Magic of Tommy Cooper - Tribute to a Comedy Genius (LC0012) — 1 March 1993 • The Magic Lives of Tommy Cooper (TV8182) — 11 October 1993 • Tommy Cooper - The Magic Touch (TV8184) — 7 March 1994 • The Very Best of Tommy Cooper 2 (TV8198) — 6 March 1995 • Tommy Cooper - The Missing Pieces (TV8211) — 2 October 1995 • The Feztastic Tommy Cooper — 6 May 1996 • Tommy Cooper - The Golden Years (TV8261) — 3 November 1997 • A Feztival of Fun With Tommy Cooper (B00005M1YE) — 16 September 2002