Tommy Cooper
| Tommy Cooper | |
|---|---|
Tommy Cooper
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| Born |
Thomas Frederick Cooper 19 March 1921 Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales |
| Died | 15 April 1984 (aged 63) Her Majesty's Theatre, London, England |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Mortlake Crematorium |
| Occupation | Prop comedian, comedian, magician |
| Years active | 1947–1984 |
| Spouse(s) | Gwen Henty (m. 1947; his death 1984) |
| Partner(s) | Mary Fieldhouse (1967–1984) |
| Children | Victoria Cooper Thomas Henty (deceased) |
Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper (19 March 1921 – 15 April 1984) was a British prop comedian and magician. Cooper was a member of the Magic Circle, and respected by traditional magicians. He was famed for his red tarboosh, and 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. On 15 April 1984, Cooper collapsed with a heart attack on live national television. He died soon afterwards.
Tommy Cooper was born at 19 Llwyn Onn Street in Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales. Cooper was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family were lodging. His parents were Thomas H. Cooper, a former recruiting sergeant in the British Army turned coal miner, and Catherine Gertrude (née Wright), his English wife from Crediton in Devon.
To escape from the heavily polluted air of Caerphilly, his father accepted the offer of a new job and the family moved to Exeter, Devon, when Cooper was three. It was in Exeter that he acquired the West Country accent that became part of his act. When he was eight an aunt bought him a magic set and he spent hours perfecting the tricks. His brother David (born 1930) opened a magic shop in the 1960s in Slough High Street called D. & Z. Cooper's Magic Shop.
Cooper was influenced by Laurel and Hardy,Max Miller,Bob Hope, and Robert Orben.
After school, Cooper became a shipwright in Southampton. 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 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, having forgotten the prop, Cooper reached out and borrowed a tarboosh from a passing waiter, which got huge laughs.
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