Bill Dean

Bill Dean was an English actor from Everton, Liverpool, who found his way into performing after trying stand-up comedy in the clubs and pubs of Lancashire. His breakthrough came with Ken Loach's The Golden Vision, and he later took a leading role in Loach's Family Life (1971). Dean became best known as Harry Cross, the tightfisted resident of the soap opera Brookside, a part he played from 1983 until 1990, with later cameo appearances in a 1998 video and three episodes in 1999. On television he also appeared in When the Boat Comes In, The Sweeney, Minder, Juliet Bravo and Heartbeat, where he played Harry Capshaw. His film work included Kes (1969), Night Watch (1973), Scum, and Let Him Have It. On stage he acted in Trevor Griffiths's Comedians at The Old Vic and in Howard Brenton's The Churchill Play with the Nottingham Playhouse and later with the Royal Shakespeare Company.