1909-02-04 ( 116 years old ) in London, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.
Coote was born in London and educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex. He began his stage career at the age of 16, performing in Britain, South Africa, and Australia before arriving in Hollywood in the late 1930s. He played a succession of pompous British types in supporting roles, including a brief but memorable turn as Sgt. Bertie Higginbotham in Gunga Din (1939). His acting career was interrupted by his service as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He played Bob Trubshawe in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), chosen for the first-ever Royal Film Performance on 1 November 1946, before he returned to Hollywood, where his films included The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Forever Amber (1947), The Three Musketeers (1948), and Orson Welles' Othello (1952).
In 1956, Coote created the role of Colonel Pickering in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady (1956–62), which he reprised in the musical's 1976–77 Broadway revival. He also originated the role of King Pellinore in the Broadway production of Camelot (1960–63). He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as Timmy St. Clair in the NBC TV series The Rogues (1964–65). In 1966, Coote appeared with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in an episode of The Honeymooners entitled "The Honeymooners in England", broadcast on CBS-TV from Miami.
In his last feature film performance, Coote portrayed one of the critics dispatched by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood (1973).
His final role was on television, playing orchid nurse Theodore Horstmann in the 1981 NBC-TV series Nero Wolfe, starring William Conrad in the title role. In most film and TV adaptations of Nero Wolfe mysteries, before and since, Horstmann has been a very minor character, but Coote's Horstmann got considerable screen time in the series.
The veteran British character actor died in his sleep at the New York Athletic Club in November 1982, at the age of 73.
Coote was a close friend of actor David Niven, sharing a house with Niven for a time in the late 1930s and living in a flat over Niven's garage for several years after the Second World War.
Movies
Institute for Revenge
1979-01-22
Filming Othello
1978-07-10
Theatre of Blood
1973-03-16
Charley's Aunt
1969-11-23
Prudence and the Pill
1968-05-23
Kenner
1968-01-01
The Cool Ones
1967-04-12
The Swinger
1966-11-13
Alice Through the Looking Glass
1966-11-06
A Man Could Get Killed
1966-03-25
The Golden Head
1964-08-22
The V.I.P.s
1963-09-01
The League of Gentlemen
1960-04-15
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
1960-01-03
The Horse's Mouth
1958-11-11
Merry Andrew
1958-03-20
The Swan
1956-04-26
The Constant Husband
1955-04-21
The Prisoner of Zenda
1952-11-04
The Merry Widow
1952-09-05
Scaramouche
1952-05-08
Othello
1951-11-28
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1951-10-16
Soldiers Three
1951-04-01
The Elusive Pimpernel
1950-11-07
The Red Danube
1949-10-14
The Three Musketeers
1948-10-20
Berlin Express
1948-05-01
The Exile
1947-10-17
Forever Amber
1947-10-10
Lured
1947-08-28
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
1947-05-25
A Matter of Life and Death
1946-12-15
Cloak and Dagger
1946-09-28
Forever and a Day
1943-01-21
Commandos Strike at Dawn
1942-12-30
You Can't Fool Your Wife
1940-05-21
Vigil in the Night
1940-02-05
Nurse Edith Cavell
1939-08-31
Bad Lands
1939-08-28
The House of Fear
1939-06-30
Gunga Din
1939-01-26
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
1939-01-20
The Girl Downstairs
1938-12-23
Blond Cheat
1938-06-17
A Yank at Oxford
1938-02-18
The Sheik Steps Out
1937-09-05
The Thirteenth Chair
1937-05-07
Rangle River
1936-12-19
Loyalties
1933-07-02
Sally in Our Alley
1931-07-09
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