Kenneth Cope

Kenneth Cope
Born	14 April 1931 (1931-04-14) (age 78) Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1955–present
Spouse(s)	Renny Lister (1961–present)

For the musician, see Kenneth Cope (musician).

Kenneth Cope (born 14 April 1931) is an English actor.

He is most famous for his leading role in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969-1970) as the late private eye Marty Hopkirk opposite Mike Pratt's very much alive Jeff Randall. He had previously starred in Coronation Street as the shady Jed Stone (between 1961 and 1966, and in 2008), and had a regular role in the influential satirical series That Was The Week That Was (1962-1963). He also starred in an episode of Minder (Bury my Half at Waltham Green) as newly freed jailbird Arthur Stubbs.

He played Subutai in the 1965 film of the life of Genghis Khan, and in the same year appeared in Dateline Diamonds playing Lester Benson. He also took leading roles in two Carry On films. In Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) he played Vic Spanner, the obnoxious shop steward central to the film's trade union and industrial problems storyline and rival in the film's romantic sub plot. In Carry On Matron (1972) he took the more sympathetic role of Cyril Carter, the son of a thief who is forced to impersonate a female nurse as part of his father's attempt to rob a maternity hospital. Once there Cyril finds love with a real nurse.

He later appeared in the Doctor Who story Warriors' Gate (in 1981), and guest starred in four episodes of Casualty, as well as roles in The Bill, Waking the Dead, A Touch of Frost, Minder and Kavanagh QC.

In 1997 Cope played dodgy ex copper Charlie Fairclough alongside David Jason in an episode of A Touch Of Frost entitled "True Confessions."

From 1999 to 2002 he starred as Ray Hilton in the Channel Four soap opera Brookside.

He married actress Renny Lister in 1961 and they have three children. They met when Renny worked on Coronation Street.

His daughter Martha Cope is also an actress; his sons Nick Cope and Mark Cope were members of the rock group The Candyskins.

He was offered a cameo role in the 2000-2001 revival of Randall and Hopkirk starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, but turned it down. He did, however, feature on the "Behind the Scenes" section of the series 1 DVD wishing well the cast of the remake. He also provided the foreword to a Randall and Hopkirk retrospective book (by Geoff Tibballs), published in 1994.

Cope's Coronation Street character Jed Stone returned to the ITV soap after 42 year's absence, appearing as part of a storyline involving property developer Tony Gordon.

Partial filmography

• Impluse (1954)
• Doublecross (1956)
• Yangtse Incident (1957)
• These Dangerous Years (1957)
• Dunkirk (1958)
• No Time to Die (1958)
• Naked Fury (1959)
• The Lady is a Square (1959)
• The Unstoppable Man (1960)
• The Criminal (1960)
• Jungle Street (1961)
• The Damned (1963)
• Carry on Jack (1963)
• Tomorrow at Ten (1964)
• Father Came Too! (1964)
• Genghis Khan (1965)
• Dateline Diamonds (1965)
• Night of the Big Heat (1967)
• Hammerhead (1968)
• A Twist of Sand (1968)
• The Desperados (1969)
• A Touch of the Other (1970)
• She'll Follow You Anywhere (1971)
• Carry on at Your Convenience (1971)
• Rentadick (1972)
• Carry on Matron (1972)
• Terror on the Britannic (1974)
• George and Mildred (1980)
• Captives (1994)

External links

• Kenneth Cope at the Internet Movie Database