Actor known for Grange Hill

Born: March 7, 1925;

Died: November 16, 2018

GEORGE A Cooper, who has died aged 93, seemed to be in just about every classic drama series and sitcom on British television in the 1960s and 1970s, but is probably best known to a slightly younger generation of viewers as the irascible janny Mr Griffiths in Grange Hill, a role he played in more than 100 episodes between 1985 and 1992.

A balding, pugnacious-looking individual, Cooper was one of the most familiar guest stars and supporting players on British television from the 1960s onwards. He played the occasional role of dodgy businessman Willie Piggott on Coronation Street from 1964 to 1970 and he turned up as no fewer than six different characters in the police drama Dixon of Dock Green in the 1960s and early 1970s.

He was equally at home in drama and comedy, appearing in the likes of Steptoe and Son, playing Uncle Arthur at family reunions in 1965 and 1972, Morecambe and Wise (1970), Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em (1973) and Billy Liar (1973-74), in which he reprised the role of Billy’s father he first played on stage in the original West End production in 1960.

Cooper was born in Leeds in 1925 and began acting in school productions. He was given the middle name Alphonsus after an 18th century saint. Although he was embarrassed by the name, he did later add the A as part of his stage name to avoid confusion with another actor called George Cooper.

He began training as an electrical engineer, but never finished it. Towards the end of the Second World War he enlisted in Royal Artillery and was stationed in India, where he spent much of his time acting with the depot’s drama group.

He worked as a draughtsman in the building industry before joining Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop company, who made a name for themselves with their readiness to experiment and present new plays with working-class characters and settings.

His profile was raised by his performance in Billy Liar, a stage adaptation of Keith Waterhouse’s novel about a young Yorkshire man who fantasises about a more exciting life elsewhere. He was in the original London production with Albert Finney.

A national tour of Billy Liar brought him to Aberdeen and he recalled: “My character is talking about Marlon Bloody Brando and it’s bloody this and bloody that, that sort of thing. And the manager said ‘Mr Cooper, I believe there’s a lot of bad language in this, would you mind cutting it out?’ If you cut all the bloodies out, there’s nothing left. I did it for about two performances I think and then I just thought, Sod you, and I put all the bloodies back.”

Finding himself in a position to pick and choose what he did, he decided to concentrate on television because he found eight performances of a play each week was a strain and film work took him away from home for too long, although he appeared with Finney again in the Oscar-winning film Tom Jones (1963).

Other classic shows on which he appeared include several episodes of Z-Cars between 1962 and 1972, The Avengers (1963 and again in 1968), The Saint (1963 and 1969), Dr Finlay’s Casebook (1965-66), The New Avengers (1976), All Creatures Great and Small (1978) and Taggart (1988).

He retired in the early 1990s. His wife, who worked in the costume department at Theatre Workshop, died in 2000. They are survived by one son.

BRIAN PENDREIGH