RIP Kenneth Cope

 

RIP Kenneth Cope Veteran British theater, film and television actor Kenneth Cope died at his home in the northern seaside town of Southport in Sefton, Liverpool on September 11^th. He was 93. Born Kenneth Charles Kope on June 14, 1931, in Liverpool. He was an “incredible icon of British TV and film.” Cope and Renny Lister, his wife of 63 years, met in 1961 when they both joined the cast of long-running ITV soap ‘Coronation Street’. He played petty crook Jed Stone as a semi-regular through the early and mid-1960s. He later returned to the role after an absence of 42 years. The 1960s proved to be a breakthrough decade for him with the double whammy of him playing in ‘Coronation Street’ and, starting in 1962, he spent a year appearing with David Frost, Millicent Martin, Roy Kinnear, David Kernan, Willie Rushton, and Lance Percival on ‘This Was The Week That Was’, a seminal late-night satirical show that aimed its sharp wit at the establishment. Cope appeared in the Euro-western “The Desperados” in 1969 as Carlin and also played the role of Percy ‘Jesse’ James on the British TV western takeoff series ‘Bootle Saddles’.