Country Practice star dead at 72

pies4ever · Joined: 11 Feb 2002 Location: rosebud,vic,australia

Country Practice star dead at 72
By IAN HABERFIELD
19sep04

ACTOR Gordon Piper, best known for his role as Bob Hatfield in the long-running TV series A Country Practice, has died aged 72.

Piper, who suffered chronic diabetes, had a heart attack on Wednesday and died in Blacktown Hospital, Sydney, yesterday.
He appeared on A Country Practice for more than a decade, playing Wandin Valley's plumber.

But his career was overshadowed five years ago when he was charged with sexually assaulting a girl, 11, at his Sydney home. He was found not guilty, but the ordeal left him bitter.

"Now I know how Lindy Chamberlain felt -- she was innocent," he said as left Penrith District Court.

Piper, who joined A Country Practice in 1981 and stayed with the show for 11years, enjoyed a career that lasted almost 50 years. He first took to the stage in 1944 and began performing variety shows at hotels in 1952.

But it was with A Country Practice that he found national -- and international -- fame.

In the series, Piper played opposite his mate "Cookie" -- actor Syd Heylen, who died in 1996.

Bob and Cookie, the club barman, teamed up for a string of doomed money-making schemes.

The plans usually involved Valley gossip Esme Watson, played by Joyce Jacobs.

Over the 900-plus episodes of the drama, Piper's Hatfield became one of the best-loved characters on Australian television.

The actor was plagued by ill health in later life. As well as battling diabetes, Piper had his left leg amputated because of circulatory problems

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10808295%255E2902,00.html