Terence Cooper

Northern Ireland-born Terence Cooper was a larger than life actor who got his big break playing one of multiple James Bonds in 1967 farce Casino Royale. Moving to New Zealand in 1976, he played patriarchs in kidult hits Gather Your Dreams and Children of Fire Mountain. But his biggest role was as laconic detective sergeant Doug Mortimer over three seasons of rural police drama Mortimer's Patch. Off-screen, he opened Trouper Cooper's Curry House in Auckland, and was an accomplished watercolour painter. Cooper continued to act into the early 1990s. He died in Queensland on 16 September 1997, at the age of 67.

He loved the industry. He didn't stand too much on ceremony —he didn't believe in that. But he did believe in quality and pushing the boundaries of excellence. Coop bought a vitality off the screen and into the frame of the work . . . People enjoyed working with him. They didn't know what to expect from him but he was never boring. Mortimer's Patch actor Don Selwyn on Terence Cooper