The Comedian Tommy Cooper dies on TV

Tommy Cooper dies during his show
where: 
London, UK
when: 
15th April 1984
The Story: 


Tommy Cooper death - the comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed from a heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act on the his show Live from Her Majesty's

His assistant had helped him put on a cloak for his sketch, while Jimmy Tarbuck, the host, was hiding behind the curtain waiting to pass him different props that he would then appear to pull from inside his gown.
The assistant smiled at him as he collapsed, believing that it was a part of the act.
Likewise, the audience gave "uproarious" laughter as he fell, gasping for air.

Tommy Cooper death

At this point, Alasdair MacMillan, the director of the television production, cued the orchestra to play music for an unscripted commercial break (noticeable because of several seconds of blank screen while LWT's master control contacted regional stations to start transmitting advertisements) and Tarbuck's manager tried to pull Cooper back through the curtains.

When Tommy collapsed clutching his chest, the audience laughed and cheered until the curtain came down and they realised that this time it was not another stunt deliberately gone wrong. Very unreal listening to an audience laughing at his death struggle.

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