Bill Dean

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

Father

Match of the Day

Ted

Waiting at the Field Gate

Mr Jackson

In Sickness and in Health

Club Owner (uncredited)

Flame

Mr. Baildon

Family Life

Duggie Jeb

Beasts: What Big Eyes

Painter

Going Gently

Harold Cross

Brookside: Friday the 13th

Inspector Walker

Night Watch

Mr Duke

Scum

Altar Boy

Priest

Dixie

Break In

Ted

Night People

Billy

The Rank and File

John Coyne

The Golden Vision

Tommy Wright

Gumshoe

George

Speech Day

Fish and Chip Shop Man

Kes

Compere

Slayground

Landlord

The Big Flame

Additional Cast

Hillsborough

Foreman of the Jury

Let Him Have It

Workman

Rising Damp

Man in Village Hall (uncredited)

The Mirror Crack'd

Old Man

Skallagrigg

Teddy

Bag of Yeast

Uncle Sid

After a Lifetime

Arthur Foster

Roll On Four O'Clock

Bert

The Best Pair of Legs in the Business

(voice)

A Turn for the Worse

Father

Bank Holiday

Sid

Freedom of the Dig