I watch comedians performing their routines
on television shows and rarely find them funny. The audience seem amused - are
they half drunk? Is laughing gas piped into the venue? Tommy Cooper was one of
the funniest comedians and here I am outside theatre where he died in the
middle of a show.
He
was 63 years old but it’s surprising he lived so long (40 cigars a day didn't
help.) He drank heavily to help him face the anxiety of going on stage. Towards
the end of his life the booze eroded his professionalism. Club owners
complained he turned up late, didn't go on stage on time, the acts were
sometimes too short, he forgot some lines and repeated others. Once on stage his
popularity and reputation usually sustained him. Along with alcoholism he
suffered from lumbago, sciatica, bronchitis chronic indigestion and circulation
problems in his legs. On top of traditional medicine he took slimming pills and
insomnia tablets - all washed down with brandy.
On
Sunday evening on 15th April 1984 he was partway through his act which was
being broadcast to the nation from Her Majesty's Theatre
in central London (my mum and dad were watching.) Despite criticism the footage
of him dying remains on the internet. He's preparing a trick with his
assistant. She puts a gown on him but he knows something is wrong and touches
her shoulder. She smiles at him as he crumples to the floor thinking he was
joking. The audience laugh too but the show's director knows something is
wrong. He cues the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break.
In darkness Tommy was given CPR but for legal and medical reasons only
paramedics or the police could move him from the stage. Other performers on the
bill tried to pump Tommy's heart. He didn’t say a word, groan or regain
consciousness. Only when the television adverts were broadcast did an ambulance
crew get Tommy into the ambulance and sped him Westminster Hospital. Somewhere
on route his heart gave a final beat and he was pronounced dead on arrival at
the hospital.
He left behind a wife, a mistress and two sons - one who died aged
32 from haemophilia compounded by liver failure.
Tommy was cremated and his ashes put in the family grave at Ocklynge
Cemetery in Eastbourne.
While sauntering
around Covent Garden I thought I'd go and have a look at the theatre. It was
built in 1897 for Herbert Tree who established RADA (the Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art - still going today.) All the great actors and comedians have
performed here. There're 1,216 seats over four floors and it's now owned by
Andrew Lloyd Webber. I found the stage door - did Tommy go through there? If so
it was probably the last door he went through alive (beside the ambulance
door.) I did a salute and left.
At the stage
door...
Tommy was
cremated and his ashes were interred here along with those of his his wife and son. The bigger stone relates to his in-laws
family....