Actor profile
George A. Cooper
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.
45 Movies
63 TV Shows
118 Credits
Filmography
Movies & TV Shows
Dawson's Weekly
12th June 1975
Billy Liar
2nd November 1973
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
15th February 1973
Crown Court
18th October 1972
The First Lady
7th April 1968
Man in a Suitcase
27th September 1967
Public Eye
23rd January 1965
Sherlock Holmes
17th May 1964
Z-Cars
2nd January 1962
No Hiding Place
16th September 1959
