James Cossins

The role which best epitomised 'James Cossins' (qv) was the fussy, repressed Brown in _Villain (1971)_ (qv). He began movie acting in the mid '60s and featured in such films as Richard Lester's _How I Won the War (1967)_ (qv), Hammer's _The Lost Continent (1968)_ (qv), the Jack Wild vehicle _Melody (1971)_ (qv) and the aforementioned cult classic _Villain (1971)_ (qv) with Richard Burton. He was also particular effective as a driving test examiner in the comedy thriller _Otley (1969)_ (qv) with 'Tom Courtenay' (qv).His contribution was usually limited to no more than a few minutes of screentime but he was always effective. On television he was quite prolific putting in appearances in, to name just a few, _The Avengers (1961)_ (qv), _Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973)_ (qv), _Bless This House (1971)_ (qv), _Bergerac (1981)_ (qv), _Minder (1979)_ (qv) and perhaps most memorably, _Fawlty Towers (1975)_ (qv). He was a specialist in officious, blustering characters. In 1974 he joined a number of British character actors to have featured in a Bond movie, playing Colthorpe in _The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)_ (qv). It was five years before he returned to cinema screens in _The Great Train Robbery (1978)_ (qv).After appearing as Lord Carnaryon in _Sphinx (1981)_ (qv) he made his last big film in 1982, _Gandhi (1982)_ (qv), though he was far down the cast list. Two more films of little note were to follow, _Grand Larceny (1987)_ (qv) and _Immaculate Conception (1992)_ (qv) before his final appearance in the TV movie _Unnatural Causes (1993)_ (qv) in 1993. He died in 1997.::Graham William