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Bill Dean (born Patrick Anthony Connolly, 3 September 1921 – 20 April 2000) was an English actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire. He took his stage name in honour of Everton F.C. legend Dixie Dean.
He worked variously as a tram driver, pipe fitter, insurance agent, ship's steward, docker and local government officer, while also appearing as a stand-up comedian in Lancashire clubs and pubs, before making his breakthrough in Ken Loach's The Golden Vision. Other work with Loach followed, including a leading role in the film Family Life (1971).
Dean was most notable in his later years for playing miserly Harry Cross in the soap opera Brookside. He joined the soap in 1983, a year after its inception, and remained there for seven years before departing in 1990. He returned in a cameo for the Brookside video 'Friday the 13th' in 1998 having his lawn driven over, He briefly returned to the series in 1999 for three episodes, when his character re-appeared in Brookside Close suffering from Alzheimer's disease and wrongly believing that he still lived there.
The same character was the inspiration behind the 1980s group 'Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross' who hailed from the Wirral.
He also made appearances in numerous other UK soaps and dramas including, When the Boat Comes In, The Sweeney, Minder, Juliet Bravo and Heartbeat, in which he appeared as Harry Capshaw, the ringleader of a group of badger baiters.
His stage work included roles in Trevor Griffiths' play Comedians at The Old Vic, and Howard Brenton's The Churchill Play with the Nottingham Playhouse and then the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dean also appeared in the video for the single "Groovy Train" by Liverpool band The Farm. He also appeared in the films Kes, Scum, Nightwatch and Let Him Have It.
Having been ill for some time he suffered a heart attack and, on 20 April 2000, died at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral Peninsula, aged 78.
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