
Robert Coote
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1909-02-04
Day of Death
1982-11-26 (73 years old)
Place of Birth
London, England, UK
Robert Coote
Biography
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.
Acting
(1979)
Institute for Revenge
as Wellington
(1978)
(1973)
Theatre of Blood
as Oliver Larding
(1969)
Charley's Aunt
as Col. Sir Francis Chesney
(1968)
Prudence and the Pill
as Henry Hardcastle
(1968)
(1967)
The Cool Ones
as Stanley Krum
(1966)
The Swinger
as Sir Hubert Charles
(1966)
A Man Could Get Killed
as Hatton / Jones
(1966)
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as The Red King
(1964)
(1963)
The V.I.P.s
as John Coburn
(1960)
The League of Gentlemen
as Bunny Warren
(1960)
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
as Baines
(1958)
The Horse's Mouth
as Sir William Beeder
(1958)
Merry Andrew
as Dudley Larabee
(1956)
The Swan
as Capt. Wunderlich
(1955)
The Constant Husband
as The Best Man
(1952)
Scaramouche
as Gaston Binet
(1952)
The Merry Widow
as Marquis De Crillon
(1952)
The Prisoner of Zenda
as Fritz von Tarlenheim
(1951)
Othello
as Roderigo
(1951)
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
as British Medical Officer
(1951)
Soldiers Three
as Maj. Mercer
(1950)
The Elusive Pimpernel
as Sir Andrew ffoulkes
(1949)
The Red Danube
as Brigadier C.M.V. Catlock
(1948)
The Three Musketeers
as Aramis
(1948)
Berlin Express
as Sterling
(1947)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
as Mr. Coombe
(1947)
Forever Amber
as Sir Thomas Dudley
(1947)
Lured
as Detective Wilson
(1947)
The Exile
as Dick Pinner
(1946)
A Matter of Life and Death
as Bob Trubshawe
(1946)
Cloak and Dagger
as Cronin
(1943)
Forever and a Day
as Blind Officer
(1942)
Commandos Strike at Dawn
as Robert Bowen
(1940)
Vigil in the Night
as Dr. Caley
(1940)
You Can't Fool Your Wife
as Battincourt
(1939)
Gunga Din
as Bertie Higginbotham
(1939)
Nurse Edith Cavell
as Bungey
(1939)
Bad Lands
as Eaton
(1939)
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
as Rollo Venables
(1939)
The House of Fear
as Robert Morton
(1938)
The Girl Downstairs
as Karl
(1938)
Blond Cheat
as Gilbert Potts
(1938)
A Yank at Oxford
as Wavertree
(1937)
The Thirteenth Chair
as Stanby
(1937)
The Sheik Steps Out
as Lord Eustace Byington
(1936)
Rangle River
as Reggie Mannister, Flight-Lieutenant
(1933)
Loyalties
as Robert
(1931)
Sally in Our Alley
as Waiter At Party