A woman who was present at the theatre when Tommy Cooper collapsed and died on stage has described the haunting evening. Cooper suffered a massive heart attack on April 15, 1984, at age 63, during a live ITV performance. He tumbled backwards against the curtain and slumped to the floor.
Disturbingly, the audience believed it was part of the act and laughed and applauded. However, producers realised something was amiss and he was dragged behind the curtain so they could give him CPR while the programme continued.
Witness Describes the Collapse
Anne O'Nimus, who witnessed the event, said: 'I was there in the theatre that night, standing at the back of the Circle. Bearing in mind that Her Majesty's is a small theatre, I had a good view but wasn't close or behind the curtains. I never found Tommy Cooper amusing – I never 'got' his act – so I wasn't laughing and, perhaps because of that, as soon as I saw him collapse, I thought he was ill.'
She added: 'I remember him falling back, clutching at the curtains and falling through them until I could just see his legs twitching and the audience continued to laugh not knowing that he was dying as his legs twitched through the curtain. I think he was either dragged fully back through the curtains or the curtains were arranged in front of him. I mainly remember the twitching legs and realising immediately that the man was ill whilst people around me were laughing and thinking it was part of the act.'
Behind the Scenes Reactions
Comedy scriptwriter Nigel Crowle, who was operating the transmission at the time, said his colleague recognised 'instantly something was wrong', according to John Flemming. Nigel said: 'I was working for the Presentation Department at BBC Television Centre that night, actually running transmission in Pres B, so – as you can imagine – all TV screens were tuned to either BBC 1 or BBC 2. I remember being frustrated that everybody else seemed to have been watching the show live whereas I was cueing up a trail for something like The Two Ronnies.'
He added: 'In the 1990s, however, I remember talking to Alasdair Macmillan about that night – he had been directing the show. Alasdair said it was one of the worst nights of his life. He knew instantly that something was wrong because Tommy had collapsed mid-act, so they cut to the commercial break early.'
Attempts to Revive Cooper
Jeff Stevenson recalled: 'The curtains closed and Jimmy Tarbuck, who was the compere, had to stand on stage in front of the curtains filling-in to the audience. He told me later that, as he was talking, he could hear them hitting Tommy's chest behind the curtain, trying to revive him – and Tommy was one of Jimmy's heroes. Terrible, terrible.'
Nigel Crowle added: 'Then – and this is where in retrospect they should never have returned to the show during live transmission – they made Les Dennis go on with Dustin Gee and do their Mavis and Vera (characters from Coronation Street) routine in front of the curtain, whilst attempts were made behind them to revive Tommy.'
