Loading amazing content...
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
September 3, 1921
Died
April 20, 2000
Place of Birth
Everton, Liverpool, England, UK
Bill Dean
0.3 Popularity
Biography
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
🎬
5.5
Harold Cross
Brookside: Friday the 13th
1998
7.0
Additional Cast
Hillsborough
1996
6.3
Altar Boy
Priest
1995
1.0
Old Man
Skallagrigg
1994
7.1
Harry Capshaw
Heartbeat
1992
6.6
Foreman of the Jury
Let Him Have It
1991
4.2
Compere
Slayground
1983
6.3
Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
1983
0.0
Billy Eccles
The Gathering Seed
1983
7.5
Painter
Going Gently
1981
Credits
🎬
Brookside: Friday the 13th
as Harold Cross
1998
5.5
Hillsborough
as Additional Cast
1996
7.0
Priest
as Altar Boy
1995
6.3
Skallagrigg
as Old Man
1994
1.0
Heartbeat
as Harry Capshaw
1992
7.1
Let Him Have It
as Foreman of the Jury
1991
6.6
Slayground
as Compere
1983
4.2
Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime
1983
6.3
The Gathering Seed
as Billy Eccles
1983
0.0
Going Gently
as Painter
1981
7.5
A Turn for the Worse
as (voice)
1981
0.0
Rising Damp
as Workman
1980
5.5
The Mirror Crack'd
as Man in Village Hall (uncredited)
1980
6.1
Minder
as Police Sgt.
1979
6.8
Scum
as Mr Duke
1979
7.1
Night People
as Ted
1978
0.0
Freedom of the Dig
as Sid
1978
0.0
Pennies from Heaven
as Alf
1978
7.7
BBC2 Play of the Week
as Ted
1977
7.0
Beasts: What Big Eyes
as Duggie Jeb
1976
0.0
Beasts
as Duggie Jebb
1976
7.0
Bag of Yeast
as Teddy
1976
0.0
Break In
as Dixie
1975
0.0
In Sickness and in Health
as Mr Jackson
1975
0.0
Waiting at the Field Gate
as Ted
1975
0.0
The Wackers
as Charlie
1975
5.5
Flame
as Club Owner (uncredited)
1975
7.1
The Sweeney
as Charlie Norton
1975
7.8
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
as Jack
1974
6.3
Match of the Day
as Father
1974
0.0
Playhouse
as Painter
1974
7.0
Night Watch
as Inspector Walker
1973
6.2
Speech Day
as George
1973
0.0
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
as Bert
1973
6.2
Bank Holiday
as Father
1972
0.0
Gumshoe
as Tommy Wright
1971
6.3
Family Life
as Mr. Baildon
1971
7.2
Justice
as Charlie Keen
1971
6.0
🎬
After a Lifetime
as Uncle Sid
1971
0.0
The Rank and File
as Billy
1971
5.0
Budgie
as Dutchie Holland
1971
7.0
Roll On Four O'Clock
as Arthur Foster
1970
6.0
Kes
as Fish and Chip Shop Man
1970
7.4
The Big Flame
as Landlord
1969
5.0
The Expert
as Leslie Stevens
1968
10.0
The Golden Vision
as John Coyne
1968
5.0
Man in a Suitcase
1967
7.0
Public Eye
as Mr. Steadman
1965
7.8