Tony Roper (actor)

In his early life he worked as a miner in Fife (where there were family connections), and as a van boy in a Glasgow bakery.[1] His first major starring role was in Scotch and Wry. He wrote the comedy-drama The Steamie in 1987, for which he won a BAFTA.[3] He achieved even greater fame in Naked Video and in the spin-off series Rab C. Nesbitt, in which he played Rab's partner-in-crime, Jamesie Cotter.[4][5] He also starred in the short-lived 1999 sitcom All Along the Watchtower.[6] Tony also had a small part as the postman in the longer version of the 1973 cult film, The Wicker Man.[7]

In theatre, he played Tom Weals in Miles Tredinnick's farce It's Now or Never! at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch in 1994.[8] He aso starred in other stage plays such as Willie Rough by Bill Bryden, "The Red Runner" by Billy Connolly, and various other plays by Alyn Aykbourn, Shaw and Shakespeare.[9]

In the 1980s, he co-founded the charity football team Dukla Pumpherston.[10] Other football-related work included regular appearances on the television and stage versions of the satirical series Only an Excuse? during the 1990s alongside Jonathan Watson.[11]

Roper has also written Paddies, a conceptual sequel to The Steamie set in Glasgow's "Paddies Market" (Paddy's Market[12]), and two novels based on Rikki Fulton's character Rev. I. M. Jolly. In 2004-2005 he co-wrote and starred as Rikki Fulton in Rikki and Me, a play about the comedy actor Rikki Fulton, which is available on DVD, and appeared as Merv in the 2005 Scottish film, On a Clear Day.[13][7]

Roper and his wife Isobel live in Glasgow.[16]

He was awarded an honorary degree by Abertay University in 2008.[17]

In April 2013, Roper received treatment for prostate cancer.[18] He was given the all-clear.[2]

His autobiography I'll No Tell You Again was published in 2014.[1] The foreword was written by his friend, Billy Connolly.[19]

• Tony Roper at IMDb