Bill Dean

Acting

Bill Dean

Born 1921-09-03 · Everton, Liverpool, England, UK

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.

Acting credits

The Mirror Crack'd poster
6.1

Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.

The Mirror Crack'd

1980

Priest poster
6.3

The deeply held religious convictions of an idealistic young priest are challenged when he must face extraordinary events within his own congregation.

Priest

1995

Kes poster
7.4

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, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence.

Kes

1970

Scum poster
7.1

Carlin is a new reform school inmate with a reputation as a hard case. The authorities encourage gang leader Pongo to humble Carlin, but Carlin overtakes Pongo as Daddy of the ward. The guards institute a reign of terror and neglect, with Carlin emerging as an unlikely leader.

Scum

1979

Night Watch poster
6.3

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 abandoned house next door.

Night Watch

1973

Let Him Have It poster
6.6

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 gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.

Let Him Have It

1991

Rising Damp poster
5.6

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 share. However Rigsby's favorite lodger, Miss Jones, flirts with Philip rather than him, despite his pitiful attempts at seduction.

Rising Damp

1980

Bank Holiday poster
NR

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, medals, badges and swastikas lead to hostility from everyone they meet, including the police

Bank Holiday

1972

Night People poster
NR

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 elderly couple on their way to Gretna Green to get married.

Night People

1978

Going Gently poster
7.5

Play about two elderly cancer patients suffering in hospital.

Going Gently

1981

Flame poster
7.3

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 in the hardships of North England's seventies working class society and music scene. This build-up from rags to riches is a parody of realism and grit, with double-dealings and harsh unforgiving dog eat dog mentalities, and the golden rule; if you play with matches then you're going to get burnt, in the flames of the music industry.

Flame

1975

Skallagrigg poster
4.0

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 the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.

Skallagrigg

1994

Family Life poster
7.3

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 “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.

Family Life

1971

Gumshoe poster
6.2

A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.

Gumshoe

1971

Hillsborough poster
7.2

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 against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium. This movie follows three Liverpudlian families before the match, during the tragedy and at the ensuing court battles which tried to decide who was to blame and what went wrong.

Hillsborough

1996

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business poster
6.3

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 stardom in this mid-seventies comedy feature. Also starring fellow sitcom favourite Diana Coupland and Lee Montague, The Best Pair of Legs in the Business was adapted from an individual ITV Playhouse drama and scripted by Emmerdale Farm creator Kevin Laffan. 'Sherry' Sheridan, a middle-aged compère and drag artiste currently stationed at a caravan site, is low on talent but high on ambition. Convinced he just needs one decent break to launch himself into the big time, he's relentlessly optimistic - but sadly unaware that his family life is crumbling around him. Can Sherry manage to secure both his job, and his marriage?

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

1973

A Turn for the Worse poster
NR

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 fresh from the dole queue who dreams of becoming a professional comedian. Simpson believes the boy has talent and starts to groom him for 'stardom'.

A Turn for the Worse

1981

The Big Flame poster
6.8

After a prolonged industrial dispute in the Liverpool Docks, the striking workers reject management demands of a return to work and decide instead to occupy the docks and run the operation themselves.

The Big Flame

1969

Speech Day poster
9.0

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 comes next for Ronnie, Wally and Rob?

Speech Day

1973

Slayground poster
4.8

After thieves botch an armored truck robbery that leads to the death of an innocent young girl, her father vows revenge by recruiting a sociopathic hitman to track them down and assassinate them.

Slayground

1984

Waiting at the Field Gate poster
NR

Lightning Gallat is the village slaughterer and a man of distinction. Where does he draw the line?

Waiting at the Field Gate

1975

The Rank and File poster
6.8

Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike, but they are denied support by their trade union.

The Rank and File

1971

Break In poster
NR

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.

Break In

1975

In Sickness and in Health poster
NR

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 Armchair Cinema.

In Sickness and in Health

1975