Tommy Cooper

Tommy Cooper
Born	Thomas Frederick Cooper 19 March 1921(1921-03-19) Caerphilly, Wales
Died	15 April 1984(1984-04-15) (aged 63) Haymarket, London, England
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Mortlake Crematorium
Occupation	Prop comedian, stand-up comedian, magician
Years active	1948 - 1984
Influenced by	Laurel and Hardy Max Miller Bob Hope Robert Orben
Influenced	Jason Manford John Lydon
Spouse	Gwen (Henty, 1947-1984, his death)
Children	Thomas Henty (deceased) Vicky Cooper
Parents	Tom Cooper Gertrude (née Wright)

Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper (19 March 1921 - 15 April 1984) was a very popular Welsh prop comedian and magician from Caerphilly, Wales.

Cooper was a member of The Magic Circle, and respected by traditional magicians. Famed for his red fez, his appearance was large and lumbering at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and more than 15 stone (210 lb; 95 kg) in weight.

While his stage persona required that his act intentionally went wrong for comic purposes, on 15 April 1984, Cooper famously 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.

Biography

Born in Caerphilly, Wales, at 19 Llwyn On 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 8 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.

Statue of Tommy Cooper in Caerphilly

World War II

After school, Cooper became a shipwright in Hythe, Hampshire, and in 1940 was called up as a trooper in the Royal Horse Guards regiment of the British Army in World War II. He served initially in Montgomery's Desert Rats in Egypt. Cooper became part of the 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 which required a pith helmet, having forgotten the prop, Cooper reached out and borrowed the fez from a passing waiter which got huge laughs. It was from this incident that stemmed two of the attributes that were a hallmark of his later act: the ever-present Fez hat and his aptitude for slapstick comedy.

Act development

When he was demobbed after seven years of military service, Cooper took up show business on Christmas Eve, 1947 — he would later add a popular monologue about his military experience as "Cooper the Trooper". Cooper worked variety theatres around the country and at London's Windmill Theatre, where he performed 52 shows per week.

Cooper had developed his conjuring skills and was a member of The Magic Circle, but there are various versions as to where he developed his act delivery of "failed" magic tricks:

• Performing to his shipbuilding colleagues when everything went wrong. Devastated, Cooper still noted that the failed tricks got laughs.
• During his British Army career.
• At a post-war audition, at which his tricks went wrong, but which the panel thoroughly enjoyed.

To keep the audience on their toes, Cooper threw in the occasional trick that worked when it was least expected.

Career

Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work which raised him to national prominence. After his debut on the BBC talent show New to You in March 1948, he soon started starring in his own shows, and was popular with audiences for four decades, most 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 70s he was one of the biggest and most recognizable comedians in the world.

Cooper was a heavy drinker and smoker, and experienced a decline in health during the late 1970s, suffering a heart attack in 1977 while in Rome, where he was performing a show. Three months later he was back on television in Night Out at the London Casino. By 1980, though, 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 guest on other television shows, however, and worked with Eric Sykes on two Thames productions in 1982:

Legendary meanness

John Fisher writes in Cooper's biography, "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."

Friends remember he would persuade strangers to buy him a drink using magician's cunning. He would stand at a bar and, when he made eye-contact with a stranger, say 'Yes?' to which the stranger would reply, "Can I get you a drink?" Cooper would reply 'What are you drinking?' to which the stranger would think he was being offered a drink, state his preference and hear Cooper rejoin, "I'll have one as well." Another stunt was to leave a taxi, slipping something into the taxi driver's pocket saying, "Have a drink on me." That something turned out to be a tea bag.

He was also known for meanness of nature. In 1964 he was opening act at the Royal Variety Performance but short of material. He asked Billy Mayo, a retired variety pro who had seen better days, for help. Mayo went off to a hardware store and bought a paraffin heater, which he presented to Cooper telling him to walk on at the beginning, put it down in front of the audience and say, "They told me to go out there and warm them up." Cooper did, and the gag received an uproarious reception. A few days later he met Mayo along with fellow performers in Soho where he received much praise for his performance but offered not a word of thanks to Mayo. At leaving time Mayo asked a favour of Cooper, "My legs are not so good at the moment. Would it be possible for your driver to drop me off at my flat?" Cooper replied by saying, "I'm not a fucking taxi service."

However, Fisher reports that despite other such tales, Cooper's strengths outweighed his faults.

Drinking

Cooper's drinking increased and had a devastating effect on his family and nearly ruined his career. Initially he drank to allay the anxiety of going onstage. He told his friend Eric Sykes, "People say I've only got to walk out on stage and they laugh. If only they knew what it takes to walk out on stage in the first place. One of these days I'll just walk out and do nothing. Then they'll know the difference." Cooper also related during a TV interview that he would walk on stage behind the curtain and give it a shake. If the audience didn't laugh, he would shake the curtain even more violently. If the audience laughed, he would burst through the curtain and start his show. If they still didn't laugh, he would rush back to the changing room, grab his bag and leave the theatre.

What began as liquid courage became a psychological crutch. Michael Parkinson recalls working with Cooper on a dry ship: there was much agitation when Cooper requested brandy. Parkinson explained, "You give him the bottle or he doesn't go on. It's as simple as that. That's how he works." There was an incident in a hotel where he asked for a large gin and tonic at breakfast then poured it over his cornflakes, explaining it was good for him as 'milk is full of cholesterol'.

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. His popularity generally carried him through but sometimes he was slow-handclapped onto the stage, audiences shouting 'Why are we waiting?' In clubs and on television, his timing began to desert him, he looked sad and was sluggish, eyes glazed, energy lowered. His slight incoherence had been part of his act but now words were being left out to embarrassing effect. Despite production crews pouring coffee down his throat, classic gags were omitted and other lines repeated for no reason. His health suffered and, fixated about his increasing weight, he started buying under-the-counter slimming pills which he mixed with insomnia tablets to form a potent cocktail.

In addition, he suffered chronic indigestion, lumbago, sciatica, bronchitis and severe circulation problems in his legs. When Cooper realised the extent of his injuries he cut down on his drinking and the energy and sparkle returned to his act and some of his later television performances were a revelation. However, he never stopped drinking and could be fallible: on an otherwise triumphant appearance with Parkinson he forgot to set the safety catch on the guillotine illusion into which he had cajoled Parkinson. Only a last-minute intervention by the floor manager saved Parkinson from serious injury or worse.

Marriage and infidelity

Cooper's drinking led to wife-beating. Several times Gwen called Miff Ferrie, Cooper's agent and manager, to say she was leaving him after he had struck her in front of the children. She reported that he sat at the dressing room table drinking whisky all night then he went to bed at 5am before waking up, going down to the kitchen and re-commencing drinking. However, the domestic violence stopped after Cooper's most serious health-scare. About to perform for executives of IBM in Italy he collapsed, had convulsions and began bleeding from the mouth. A doctor saved his life with a cardiac injection and Gwen flew to his side in an IBM plane.

Their marriage was volatile. Gwen told the press, "We fight. I throw things and he throws things back. But we often end up laughing." Their son said, "She was more than a match for him. They had some colossal fights and Dad would spend all his time ducking." However it was also a very loving union: she also said, "He was the nicest, kindest — and most awkward — man in the world."

In 1967 Cooper began an affair with Mary Fieldhouse (née Kay), a stage manager whom he met in a church hall used for rehearsals. At this time he was travelling the country constantly by himself, Gwen having decided to put her two teenage children first. Kay recognized Cooper needed order in his life and made herself the person to bring it, at least when on tour as his wardrobe manager — their relationship developed and they fell in love. It was because of her that Cooper increased his touring, relishing the chance to spend time with her. She did not rescue him from self-destructive drinking and on occasion fell victim to his rages: there is a story of his ripping the seam of an expensive dress he had bought her and throwing her to the floor in a restaurant. Fieldhouse died on 11 December 2010, aged 84.^{[citation needed]}

Gwen supposedly found out about the affair after Cooper's death and remarked that it was a mere slip, a one-night stand. There had however been tabloid speculation while the affair was going on and a friend recalls Gwen coming into the bedroom brandishing a hotel invoice to Mr and Mrs Cooper. Cooper insisted he was on his own. His wife left the room slamming the door and calling him a bastard. He pulled his clothes over his pyjamas and dashed to the nearest phone box where he called the manager and asked him to phone his home in half an hour and apologize for the mistake. Half an hour later there was a phone call to the house and Gwen came upstairs all smiles, explaining there had been a Mr and Mrs Cooper in the hotel at the same time and their bill had been sent by mistake.

Cooper never considered leaving his wife, and friends attest to his deep love of Gwen, saying he needed her. And despite her suffering at the hands of a man whom Bob Monkhouse described as "a child with an infant's rage but fundamentally a lovely man", she loved him and was devastated by his death, having sent him off with a flask of coffee and a packet of sandwiches that morning and watching what turned out to be his final performance.

Death on a live television show

On 15 April 1984, Cooper collapsed 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 — not, as is often reported, the London Palladium.

An assistant had helped him put on a cloak for his sketch, while Jimmy Tarbuck, the host, was hiding behind the curtain waiting to pass him different props which he would then appear to pull from inside his gown. The assistant smiled at him as he collapsed, believing that it was a joke. Likewise, the audience laughed as he fell, until it became apparent he was seriously ill. At this point the show's director, Alasdair MacMillan, cued the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break (noticeable by several seconds of blank screen whilst LWT's master control contacted regional stations to start transmitting advertisements) and Jimmy 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 had to follow Tommy Cooper, and other stars proceeded to present their acts in the limited space in front of the stage. For a long time, a rumour circulated that the size 13 feet from his 6' 4" frame protruded underneath the curtains. While the show continued, efforts were being made backstage to revive Cooper, not made easier by the darkness. It was not until a second commercial break that ambulancemen were able to move his body to Westminster Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His death wasn't officially reported until the next morning, although the incident was the lead item on the news programme that followed the show.

The video of Tommy Cooper suffering a heart attack on stage has been uploaded to numerous video sharing websites. YouTube has been heavily criticised by the press when footage of the incident was posted on their website from May 2009. On December 28th 2011, segments of the Live From Her Majesty's clip, including Cooper collapsing on stage, were screened on Channel 4 in the UK, on a programme titled "The Untold Tommy Cooper".

Cooper was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium in London. Cooper was survived by his wife, Gwen (whom he called 'Dove'), and two children, Thomas and Vicky, and a two year old grandchild, Tam. Cooper's son Thomas, who was an actor in his own right, changed his name for stage to Thomas Henty (his mother's maiden name). Henty said in interviews that, though he loved his dad, he needed his own identity to make a career on stage, and told very few who his famed father was, to further his dramatic acting career. Eventually son Tom travelled on the road as manager to his father. He also acted as occasional stage manager to his father, and was backstage with his father on the night he died. But like his father, son Thomas was a heavy drinker, and he died in August 1988 at Charing Cross Hospital in Fulham, London, age 32. He died of haematemesis, following complications caused by liver failure. Doctors had attempted to pump seventy pints of new blood into his body, but the blood failed to clot, and after three days his mother took the decision to have his life support machine switched off. Thomas Henty left a son, Tam Henty.

Legacy

A statue of Cooper was unveiled in his hometown of Caerphilly, Wales in 2008 by fellow entertainer Sir Anthony Hopkins, who is patron of The Tommy Cooper Society. The statue was sculpted by James Done. In 2009 for Red Nose Day, a charity Red Nose was put on the statue, but the nose was stolen.

In a 2005 poll The Comedians' Comedian, Cooper was voted the sixth greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He is commonly cited as one of the best comedians of all time, with several polls placing him at number one.^{[citation needed]}

Jerome Flynn has toured with his own tribute show to Cooper called Just Like That. In February 2007, The Independent reported that Andy Harries, a producer of The Queen, was working on a dramatization about the last week of Tommy Cooper's life. Harries described Cooper's death as "extraordinary" in that the whole thing was broadcast live on national television.

dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip wrote a song entitled 'Tommy C' - about Cooper's career and death - which appears on their 2008 album Angles.

External links

• The Tommy Cooper Society
• Tommy Cooper - Almost a Magician