Bill Dean

Dean served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, seeing action in North Africa and Italy.[2] He worked variously as a tram driver, pipe fitter, insurance agent, ship's steward, docker and local government officer, while also appearing as a stand-up comedian in Lancashire clubs and pubs, before making his breakthrough in Ken Loach's The Golden Vision.[1] Other work with Loach followed, including a leading role in the film Family Life (1971).[3][4]

Dean was most notable in his later years for playing miserly Harry Cross in the soap opera Brookside.[5] He joined the soap in 1983, a year after its inception, and remained there for seven years before departing in 1990.[6] 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.[1]

The same character was the inspiration behind the 1980s group 'Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross' who hailed from the Wirral.[7]

He also made appearances in numerous other UK soaps and dramas including, When the Boat Comes In, The Sweeney, Minder, Juliet Bravo and Heartbeat.[8]

His stage work included roles in Trevor Griffiths' play Comedians at The Old Vic, and Howard Brenton's The Churchill Play with the Nottingham Playhouse and then the Royal Shakespeare Company.[9]

Dean also appeared in the video for the single "Groovy Train" by Liverpool band The Farm. He also appeared in the films Kes, Scum, Nightwatch and Let Him Have It.[10]

Dean was married, and had three children: two sons, one daughter.[11]

Having been ill for some time he suffered a heart attack and, on 20 April 2000, died at the Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.[2]

• Bill Dean at IMDb