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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.
1981
as Theodore Horstmann
1979
1979
as Wellington
1978
1973
as Oliver Larding
1969
as Col. Sir Francis Chesney
1968
as Henry Hardcastle
1968
1967
as Stanley Krum
1967
1966
as Sir Hubert Charles
1966
as The Red King
1966
as Hatton / Jones
1964
as Timmy St. Clair
1964
1963
as John Coburn
1960
as Bunny Warren
1960
as Baines
1959
1958
as Sir William Beeder
1958
as Terry
1958
as Dudley Larabee
1956
as Capt. Wunderlich
1955
as The Best Man
1952
as Fritz von Tarlenheim
1952
as Marquis De Crillon
1952
as Gaston Binet
1951
as Roderigo
1951
as British Medical Officer
1951
as Maj. Mercer
1950
as Sir Andrew ffoulkes
1950
as Stephen
1950
as Joe Worton
1950
as Lawton
1950
1950
as Sir Archibald Bruern
1949
as Brigadier C.M.V. Catlock
1948
as Dr. Gordon
1948
as Aramis
1948
as Sterling
1947
as Dick Pinner
1947
as Sir Thomas Dudley
1947
as Detective Wilson
1947
as Mr. Coombe
1946
as Bob Trubshawe
1946
as Cronin
1943
as Blind Officer
1942
as Robert Bowen
1940
as Battincourt
1940
as Dr. Caley
1939
as Bungey
1939
as Eaton
1939
as Robert Morton
1939
as Bertie Higginbotham
1939
as Rollo Venables
1938
as Karl
1938
as Gilbert Potts
1938
as Wavertree
1937
as Lord Eustace Byington
1937
as Stanby
1936
as Reggie Mannister, Flight-Lieutenant
1933
as Robert
1931
as Waiter At Party