James Cossins

The role which best epitomised James Cossins was the fussy, repressed Brown in Salaud (1971). He began movie acting in the mid '60s and featured in such films as Richard Lester's Comment j'ai gagné la guerre (1967), Hammer's Le peuple des abîmes (1968), the Jack Wild vehicle Mercredi après-midi (1971) and the aforementioned cult classic Salaud (1971) with Richard Burton. He was also particular effective as a driving test examiner in the comedy thriller Otley (1969) with Tom Courtenay.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, Chapeau melon et bottes de cuir (1961), Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973), Bless This House (1971), Bergerac (1981), Minder (1979) and perhaps most memorably, L'hôtel en folie (1975). 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 L'homme au pistolet d'or (1974). It was five years before he returned to cinema screens in La grande attaque du train d'or (1978).After appearing as Lord Carnaryon in Sphinx (1981) he made his last big film in 1982, Gandhi (1982), though he was far down the cast list. Two more films of little note were to follow, Grand Larceny (1987) and Immaculate Conception (1992) before his final appearance in the TV movie Unnatural Causes (1993) in 1993. He died in 1997. Show less «