Robert Coote


Robert Coote was an English screen and stage actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many Hollywood films, and originated the role of Colonel Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Early life

Coote was born in London, the son of vaudevillian and playwright Bert Coote. He was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, but left at age 16 to join a touring repertory company, performing performing in Britain, South Africa, and Australia. He made his West End debut in 1931.

Career

Coote worked on the London stage and appeared in minor roles in British films, appearing in the 1936 Australian film Rangle River. He arrived in Hollywood in the late 1930s, beginning with 1937's The Thirteenth Chair. He played a succession of pompous British types in supporting roles, including a brief but memorable turn as Sgt. Bertie Higginbotham in Gunga Din.
His acting career was interrupted by his service as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. During his service, he organized entertainment shows at CFB Rockcliffe. He played Bob Trubshawe in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death, 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, Forever Amber, The Three Musketeers, and Orson Welles' Othello.
In 1956, Coote created the role of Colonel Pickering in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady, which he reprised in the musical's 1976–77 Broadway revival. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1957 for his performance. He also originated the role of King Pellinore in the Broadway production of Camelot.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance as Timmy St. Clair in the NBC TV series The Rogues. 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 1973, in his last feature film performance, Coote portrayed one of the critics dispatched by Vincent Price in Theatre of Blood.
Coote guest-starred in an episode of the 1979 NBC television anthology series $weepstake$. 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.

Personal life

Coote was a close friend of fellow 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.

Death

Coote died in his sleep at the New York Athletic Club in November 1982, at the age of 73.

Partial filmography

Sally in Our Alley as Waiter At Party Loyalties as RobertRadio Parade of 1935 as ExecutiveRangle River as Reggie Mannister, Flight-LieutenantThe Thirteenth Chair as StanbyThe Sheik Steps Out as Lord Eustace ByingtonA Yank at Oxford as WavertreeBlond Cheat as Gilbert PottsThe Girl Downstairs as Karl, Paul's ButlerMr. Moto's Last Warning as Rollo VenablesGunga Din as Sgt. Bertie HigginbothamThe House of Fear as Robert MortonBad Lands as EatonNurse Edith Cavell as BungeyVigil in the Night as Dr. CaleyYou Can't Fool Your Wife as 'Batty' BattincourtCommandos Strike at Dawn as Robert BowenForever and a Day as Blind OfficerA Matter of Life and Death as Bob TrubshaweCloak and Dagger as Cronin The Ghost and Mrs. Muir as Mr. CoombeLured as DetectiveThe Exile as Dick PinnerForever Amber as Sir Thomas DudleyBerlin Express as SterlingThe Three Musketeers as AramisThe Red Danube as Brigadier C.M.V. CatlockThe Elusive Pimpernel as Sir Andrew ffloulkesSoldiers Three as Maj. MercerThe Lavender Hill Mob as Waiter in Restaurant The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel as British Medical Officer Othello as RoderigoScaramouche as Gaston BinetThe Merry Widow as Marquis De CrillonThe Prisoner of Zenda as Fritz von TarlenheimThe Constant Husband as Friends and Relations: The Best ManThe Swan as Capt. WunderlichMerry Andrew as Dudley LarabeeThe Horse's Mouth as Sir William BeederThe League of Gentlemen as Bunny WarrenThe V.I.P.s as John CoburnThe Rogues as Timmy St. ClairThe Golden Head as BraithwaiteA Man Could Get Killed as Hatton / JonesThe Swinger as Sir Hubert CharlesThe Cool Ones as Stanley KrumleyThe Whitehall Worrier as Rt. Hon. Mervyn PughPrudence and the Pill as Henry HardcastleKenner as HendersonUp the Front as General BurkeTheatre of Blood as Oliver LardingInstitute for Revenge as WellingtonNero Wolfe as Theodore Horstmann

Partial stage credits

Our Peg Frederica Wild Violets - Algernon RutherfordMother of Pearl The Love of Four Colonels - Colonel Desmond De S. Rinder-SparrowSomeone Waiting - John NedlowDear Charles - Sir Michael AnstrutherMy Fair Lady - Colonel PickeringMy Fair Lady - Colonel Pickering
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