
Tommy Cooper
- Date of Birth: 1921-03-19
- Date of Death: 1984-04-15
- Place of Birth: Caerphilly, South Wales
Biography
Born in Caerphilly, South Wales, at 19 Llwyn Onn 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 s... Born in Caerphilly, South Wales, at 19 Llwyn Onn 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 eight 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. On 15 April 1984, Cooper 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. His stage persona required that his act intentionally went wrong for comic purposes, leading to some initial uncertainty about whether this collapse was real.

Tommy Cooper: Master Of Comedy
Comedy • 1997 March

Cooper's Capers
• 1958 October

A Tribute to Tommy Cooper
Documentary • 1986 September

Cooperama
• 1966 June

Life With Cooper
• 1966 December

Tommy Cooper: The Lost Tapes
Documentary, Comedy • 2024 December

Cooper (or Life With Tommy)
• 1957 March

It's Tommy Cooper
Comedy • 1970 February

Tommy Cooper - A Feztival Of Fun With Tommy Cooper
Comedy, Family • 2001 September

Cooper's Half Hour
• 1980 September