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From: Judes <judith_gibbons@ncet.org.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: T: Comedian dies on stage - cite.
Date: 13 May 1996 13:57:46 GMT

I present for your delectation an actual cite for the 'Comedian dying on stage' UL, involving British comedian and comic magician Tommy Cooper:

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 1981-1985: ===
In 1977 Cooper had a heart attack while in Rome, and after lung trouble he had to forgo his affection for cigars.

On 15 April 1984 he collapsed on the stage of Her Majesty's Theatre, London, while appearing in a 'live' television show; indeed, as the curtains closed on him, many viewers imagined his tumble to be part of his clowning. He was taken to Westminster Hospital, where he was adjudged dead.
===

Within the last few months there was a programme shown on UK TV about the man, and it had interviews with some of his colleagues who were watching the show and, in one case, was working with him on it. This man was Jimmy Tarbuck (Liverpool comedian) who was apparently behind the curtain on stage, ready to hand out a prop to Cooper for a joke magician act. Tarbuck was watching on a monitor behind the curtain as a female assistant wrapped a long cloak around Cooper and fastened it round his neck, when Cooper apparently made a small noise and very slowly collapsed, falling to his knees with the cloak still around him. The audience assumed it was part of the act, but the advert break was quickly brought on and the curtains wrapped around Cooper. I believe he was already dead at that time.

Judes "showstopper"