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Robert Coote

Robert Coote

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.

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1981

as Theodore Horstmann

Sweepstakes

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1979

Institute for Revenge

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1979

as Wellington

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1978

Theatre of Blood

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1973

as Oliver Larding

Charley's Aunt

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1969

as Col. Sir Francis Chesney

Prudence and the Pill

Prudence and the Pill

1968

as Henry Hardcastle

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1968

The Cool Ones

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1967

as Stanley Krum

The Whitehall Worrier

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1967

The Swinger

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1966

as Sir Hubert Charles

Alice Through the Looking Glass

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1966

as The Red King

A Man Could Get Killed

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1966

as Hatton / Jones

The Rogues

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1964

as Timmy St. Clair

The Golden Head

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1964

The V.I.P.s

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1963

as John Coburn

The League of Gentlemen

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1960

as Bunny Warren

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

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1960

as Baines

Rawhide

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1959

The Horse's Mouth

The Horse's Mouth

1958

as Sir William Beeder

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

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1958

as Terry

Merry Andrew

Merry Andrew

1958

as Dudley Larabee

The Swan

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1956

as Capt. Wunderlich

The Constant Husband

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1955

as The Best Man

The Prisoner of Zenda

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1952

as Fritz von Tarlenheim

The Merry Widow

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1952

as Marquis De Crillon

Scaramouche

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1952

as Gaston Binet

Othello

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1951

as Roderigo

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1951

as British Medical Officer

Soldiers Three

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1951

as Maj. Mercer

The Elusive Pimpernel

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1950

as Sir Andrew ffoulkes

Lux Video Theatre

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1950

as Stephen

Lux Video Theatre

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1950

as Joe Worton

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1950

as Lawton

Robert Montgomery Presents

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1950

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1950

as Sir Archibald Bruern

The Red Danube

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1949

as Brigadier C.M.V. Catlock

Studio One

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1948

as Dr. Gordon

The Three Musketeers

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1948

as Aramis

Berlin Express

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1948

as Sterling

The Exile

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1947

as Dick Pinner

Forever Amber

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1947

as Sir Thomas Dudley

Lured

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1947

as Detective Wilson

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

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1947

as Mr. Coombe

A Matter of Life and Death

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1946

as Bob Trubshawe

Cloak and Dagger

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1946

as Cronin

Forever and a Day

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1943

as Blind Officer

Commandos Strike at Dawn

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1942

as Robert Bowen

You Can't Fool Your Wife

You Can't Fool Your Wife

1940

as Battincourt

Vigil in the Night

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1940

as Dr. Caley

Nurse Edith Cavell

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1939

as Bungey

Bad Lands

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1939

as Eaton

The House of Fear

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1939

as Robert Morton

Gunga Din

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1939

as Bertie Higginbotham

Mr. Moto's Last Warning

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1939

as Rollo Venables

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1938

as Karl

Blond Cheat

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1938

as Gilbert Potts

A Yank at Oxford

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1938

as Wavertree

The Sheik Steps Out

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1937

as Lord Eustace Byington

The Thirteenth Chair

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1937

as Stanby

Rangle River

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1936

as Reggie Mannister, Flight-Lieutenant

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1933

as Robert

Sally in Our Alley

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1931

as Waiter At Party

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