32 Facts About Tommy Cooper

Thomas Frederick Cooper was a Welsh prop comedian and magician.

Tommy Cooper served in the British Army for seven years, before developing his conjuring skills and becoming a member of The Magic Circle.

On 15 April 1984, Tommy Cooper died at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack on live television.

Thomas Frederick Tommy Cooper was born on 19 March 1921 at 19 Llwyn-On Street in Caerphilly, Glamorgan.

Tommy Cooper was delivered by the woman who owned the house in which the family were lodging.

Tommy Cooper's parents were Thomas H Cooper, a Welsh recruiting sergeant in the British Army and later coal miner, and Catherine Gertrude, Thomas's English wife from Crediton, Devon.

Tommy Cooper became a member of a Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes 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 Tommy Cooper reached out and borrowed a fez from a passing waiter, which got huge laughs.

Tommy Cooper wore a fez when performing after that, the prop later being described as "an icon of 20th-century comedy".

Tommy Cooper was demobilized after seven years of military service and took up show business on Christmas Eve 1947.

Tommy Cooper later developed a popular monologue about his military experience as "Cooper the Trooper".

Tommy Cooper worked in variety theatres around the country and at many night spots in London, performing as many as 52 shows in one week.

Tommy Cooper developed his conjuring skills and became a member of The Magic Circle, but there are various stories about how and when he developed his delivery of "failed" magic tricks:.

Tommy Cooper was influenced by Laurel and Hardy, Will Hay, Max Miller, Bob Hope, and Robert Orben.

In 1947 Tommy Cooper got his big break with Miff Ferrie, at that time trombonist in a band called The Jackdaws, who booked him to appear as the second-spot comedian in a show starring the sand dance act Marqueeze and the Dance of the Seven Veils.

Tommy Cooper then began two years of arduous performing, including a tour of Europe and a stint in pantomime, playing one of Cinderella's ugly sisters.

Tommy Cooper was supported by a variety of acts, including the vocal percussionist Frank Holder.

Tommy Cooper rapidly became a top-liner in variety with his turn as the conjurer whose tricks never succeeded, but it was his television work that raised him to national prominence.

When Tommy Cooper realised the extent of his maladies he cut down on his drinking, and the energy and confidence returned to his act.

Tommy Cooper was a heavy cigar smoker as well as an excessive drinker.

Tommy Cooper experienced a decline in health during the late 1970s, suffering a heart attack in 1977 while performing a show in Rome.

Tommy Cooper did continue to appear as a guest on other television shows and worked with Eric Sykes on two Thames productions in 1982.

On 15 April 1984, Tommy Cooper collapsed from a heart attack in front of 12 million viewers, midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live from Her Majesty's, transmitted live from Her Majesty's Theatre in Westminster, London.

Tommy Cooper's death was not officially reported until the next morning, although the incident was the leading item on the news programme that followed the show.

Tommy Cooper's funeral was held nearby at Mortlake Crematorium in London, after which his son scattered his ashes in the back garden, over his father's favourite daffodils.

Tommy Cooper married Gwen Henty in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 24 February 1947.

From 1967 until his death, Cooper had a relationship with his personal assistant, Mary Fieldhouse, who wrote about it in her book, For the Love of Tommy.

Tommy Cooper was a member of the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Tommy Cooper has been cited as an influence by Jason Manford and John Lydon.

Jerome Flynn has toured with his own tribute show to Tommy Cooper called Just Like That.

In 2012 the British Heart Foundation ran a series of advertisements featuring Tommy Cooper to raise awareness of heart conditions.

In May 2016 a blue plaque in memory of Tommy Cooper was unveiled at his former home in Barrowgate Road, Chiswick.