GEORGE COLE

'George Edward Cole' (born April 22, 1925 in Tooting, London, England) is a British actor.
He began appearing in films in the early 1940s,debuting in the 1941 film ''Cottage to Let'' and his career was only briefly interrupted by service in the Royal Air Force from 1944 to 1947. He became familiar to audiences in British comedy films in the 1950s, but later became a respected character actor on television.
He attributes his acting career to the great British comedy stage and film actor Alastair Sim who became his mentor, and with whom Cole appears from his earliest days. It has been rumoured that Sim was really his father, but it is not clear that there is any evidence for this.Cole made a total of 11 film appearances alongside Sim,ending with the somewhat obscure independent film ''The Anatomist'' (1961).
Cole appeared in ''Scrooge'' with Sim (as the young Scrooge) in 1951, but his best known film roles was as "Flash Harry" in the ''St Trinian's'' films (two of which also star Sim).
During the 60s and 70s he played numerous character parts on British television, usually as a disturbed and/or pathetic villain or victim. Series he appeared in included ''Gideon's Way'' ('The Firebug', 1965), ''Out of the Unknown'' ('The Last Lonely Man', 1969) and ''Menace'' ('Killing Time', 1970).
His most memorable TV role was as crooked used car dealer ''Arthur Daley'' in the TV series ''Minder'' (1979-94). The character became synonymous with the down-at-heel side of 80s capitalism (along with Del Trotter of ''Only Fools and Horses''). Cole played a very similar character in late 1980s / early 1990s advertisements for the Leeds Permanent Building Society who was "Laughing all the way to The Leeds".
In 1995/6 he starred as businessman - councillor Freddie Patterson in ''An Independent Man''. He also starred as Brian Hook in the BBC Comedy ''Dad'' in the late 1990s alongside Kevin McNally, who played his son, Alan Hook. There were 13 episodes of the show, spanning two series and a Christmas special. Each episode title punned on the word 'Dad' (eg: Dadmestic; Dadcipline; Habadadery; Dadaholic; Transcendadtal; Dadmocracy; Reprodadtion), although the Christmas special broke with this tradition, taking the title 'Nemesis'.
He played Henry Root in the TV series Root Into Europe.
He is able to hide his London accent when playing upper-class characters, such as Sir Giles Lynchwood in the TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe's novel ''Blott on the Landscape''. Recently he was announced to play the leading role in Kevin Tate's "The Story of Carl Veart" a new 6 part ITV Series.
George Cole recently appeared in a BBC drama, 'A Class Apart', playing a grandfather who encourages his impoverished daughter keep her son on the straight and narrow by means of a public school bursary. The drama was part of the Winter/Spring 2007 season. [1]
He was married firstly to Eileen Moore, an actress. He subsequently married Penny Morrell, in 1964, with whom he has two children.

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External links

External links

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★ www.britmovie.co.uk - George Cole

★ Various 'Dad' links on valdefierro.com

★ Article about 'Dad' on 'Life in Cartoons'