Bill Dean
Bill Dean was a British actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire. He was born Patrick Anthony Connolly, but took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean. After a atring of jobs, it was his work as a Lancashire club comedian that saw him spotted by Ken Loach who gave him his breakthrough role in his TV play The Golden Vision. Famous for his flat but penetrating Scouse tones, Dean went on to star as miserable pensioner Harry Cross in the long running Channel 4 soap Brookside from its inception in 1983 to 1990. He briefly returned to the series in 1999 for three episodes, when his character re-appeared in Brookside Close suffering from Alzheimer's disease and wrongly believing that he still lived there. The same character was the inspiration behind the 1980s group 'Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross' who hailed from the Wirral and Dean himself appeared in the video of the Liverpudlian band The Farm's Groovy Train as Cross, who was a former train driver. He did of a heart attack aged 78 in 2000.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 6.777 |
| Birthday | 1921-09-03 |
| Place of Birth | Everton, Liverpool, England, UK |
| Also Known As |
1971
Family Life
7.2/51
A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “...
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Family Life
1998
Brookside: Friday the 13th
5.5/2
There is trouble a-plenty in store for the Corkhill clan in this video-only special. Series creator Phil Redmond has returned to pen a dramatic script...
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Brookside: Friday the 13th
1973
Night Watch
6.3/37
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the aband...
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Night Watch
1979
Scum
7.119/185
Powerful, uncompromising drama about two boys' struggle for survival in the nightmare world of Britain's notorious Borstal Reformatory.
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Scum
1971
The Rank and File
5/2
Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike,...
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The Rank and File
1995
Priest
6.44/124
Father Greg Pilkington is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover, frowned upon b...
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Priest
1968
The Golden Vision
5/3
The obsessive supporters of Everton FC forsake wives, families and God to follow their beloved team. Meanwhile, the club and its players try to live u...
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The Golden Vision
1971
Gumshoe
6.4/34
A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.
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Gumshoe
1973
Speech Day
0/0
Speech Day is a bit of a laugh if you are not one of nature's prize-winners. But now that they've finished with school and school with them, what come...
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Speech Day
1970
Kes
7.465/376
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy,...
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Kes
1983
Slayground
4.6/7
Stone (Peter Coyote) hits an armored truck without his usual driver. The ensuing getaway leads to the death of an innocent. The payback is swift and b...
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Slayground
1969
The Big Flame
5/2
After a prolonged industrial dispute in the Liverpool Docks, the striking workers reject management demands of a return to work and decide instead to...
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The Big Flame
1996
Hillsborough
7/19
Drama based on the real life events of April 1989, when ninety-six Liverpool supporters were crushed to death during an F.A. Cup Semi-Final match agai...
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Hillsborough
1991
Let Him Have It
6.644/45
In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangs...
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Let Him Have It
1980
Rising Damp
5.5/15
Stingy landlord Rigsby manages to scam his lodgers John, an art student, and Philip, an African medical student, making both pay for a room they must...
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Rising Damp
1980
The Mirror Crack'd
6.149/194
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
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The Mirror Crack'd
1994
Skallagrigg
1/1
Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to t...
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Skallagrigg
1976
Bag of Yeast
0/0
When teacher Tony Scannell decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest his decision has wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones.
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Bag of Yeast
1971
After a Lifetime
0/0
Ken Loach's first production for ITV, shown under the 'Sunday Night Theatre' strand (originally broadcast 18th July 1971). After a Lifetime is somethi...
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After a Lifetime
1970
Roll On Four O'Clock
6/1
Compelling drama from screenwriter Colin Welland set in a city comprehensive school of low expectations and ambitions. Pupil Latimer does not conform...
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Roll On Four O'Clock
1973
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
6.2/5
Capitalising on his remarkable success in On the Buses, Reg Varney took on the contrasting role of a third-rate holiday camp entertainer dreaming of s...
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The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
1981
A Turn for the Worse
0/0
Simon Simpson runs an entertainment agency in Liverpool. At one of his regular auditions in The Bootle Railway Club he sees an aggressive young man fr...
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A Turn for the Worse
1972
Bank Holiday
0/0
18-year-old friends Todd and Towzer set off by motorbike to spend a Bank Holiday weekend in Scarborough. Their long hair, cut-off denim jackets, medal...
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Bank Holiday
1975
Waiting at the Field Gate
0/0
Lightning Gallat is the village slaughterer and a man of distinction. Where does he draw the line?
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Waiting at the Field Gate
1974
Match of the Day
0/0
Chance has missed the match, but the girls at his sister's wedding might make up for it
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Match of the Day
1975
In Sickness and in Health
0/0
A hard-working doctor must also carry the burden of a turbulent home life, due to the expectations of his demanding wife. Part of Thames Televison's A...
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In Sickness and in Health
1975
Flame
7.2/11
Light the Rock 'n Roll spark with a Flame in the guise of Dave, Noddy, Jim and Don and their showcase of the rise and demise of rock band Flame. Set i...
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Flame
1976
Beasts: What Big Eyes
0/0
An RSPCA officer is horrified when he discovers a pet shop owner has been conducting experiments on a wolf, searching for proof of lycanthropy. Create...
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Beasts: What Big Eyes
1981
Going Gently
5/1
Play about two elderly cancer patients suffering in hospital.
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Going Gently
1975
Break In
0/0
Written by Willy Russell, Break In tells the story of three boys who break in to their school during the holidays to retrieve a confiscated football.
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Break In
1978
Night People
0/0
A classical string quartet stop at a motorway cafe in early hours. Among the people they meet are a football supporter, a commercial traveller and an...
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