Tommy Cooper Biography

The family moved to Devon when Cooper was three. He then attended the Mount Radford School for boys, and often helped his parents run their ice cream van, which attended fairs around the area on weekends.

At the age of eight, an aunt bought Cooper a magic set and he would spend hours perfecting all the tricks.

Cooper began to entertain troops while serving in the Middle East during World War II. Unable to find his pith hat before a show one evening, he borrowed a fez from a waiter, stuck it on his head and walked on to the stage amid roars of pleasure. The fez stayed, and became a trademark to accompany his corny two-line gags.

A natural comic with large clumsy limbs, his audience only had to look at Tommy Cooper to laugh. The chaos of Cooper’s shows disguised a meticulous sense of timing, an excellent comic and a professional magician.

Back in England, Cooper fought his way round the variety circuit developing his magic comedy sketches. He joined the Windmill Theatre, where generations of aspiring comedians filled the gaps between the main show; the strippers. Cooper performed as many as 52 shows a week to the thankless audience, whose interest lay with the girls and not his jokes.

Cooper, despite the BBC lamenting his "unfortunate appearance", made his television debut in 'Leslie Henson's Christmas Eve Party', in 1947.

He was awarded his own BBC series 'It's Magic' in 1952. This was the first and last series Cooper would make for the BBC, being an ITV man for the rest of his career.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Cooper became embedded in the hearts of the British public. In 1969 he was voted ITV’s Personality of the Year. Dropped by Thames TV, his television appearances in the early 1980s were limited to a trickle of guest spots.

Cooper's drinking habits increased over the years and came to have a devastating effect on his family and nearly ruin his career. Initially he drank to allay the anxiety of going onstage. However, by the 1970s, alcohol had started to erode his professionalism and venue organisers started to complain that he turned up late or rushed through his show.

His drinking also took its toll on what was a volatile marriage to his wife Gwen. It took a health scare while he was performing in Italy for Cooper to put a stop to the domestic violence Gwen had suffered.

In 1984, Cooper collapsed and died from a heart attack during the live broadcast for 'Live from Her Majesty's'. Believing it to be part of the gag, the audience laughed and applauded.

For legal and medical reasons, Cooper's body could not be removed from the stage except by paramedics or the police. It was decided to continue the show 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 foot 3 frame protruded into view underneath the curtains. While the show continued, efforts were being made backstage to revive Cooper though these were not made easier by the darkness.