Arthur Lowe - Early Career

Early Career

Lowe made his debut at the Manchester Repertory Theatre in 1945, where he was paid £5 per week for twice-nightly performances. He worked with various repertory companies around the country and became known for his character roles, which included parts in the West End musicals Call Me Madam, Pal Joey and The Pajama Game. An early brief film role is as a reporter for the Tit-Bits magazine near the end of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949).

Lowe married Joan Cooper (1922–1989) on 10 January 1948. They had met in 1945 when she was his leading lady at the Manchester Repertory Theatre, and they remained together until his death. Their son, Stephen Lowe, was born in January 1953.

By the 1960s, Lowe had successfully made the transition to television and landed a regular role as draper/lay preacher Leonard Swindley in the northern drama series Coronation Street (1960–65). His character became sufficiently popular with viewers for him to appear in spin-off series, Pardon the Expression (1966), and its sequel Turn out the Lights (1967).

Leonard Swindley was not a role Lowe relished though, and he longed to move on. During the months he was not playing Swindley he was busy on stage or making one-off guest appearances in other TV series such as Z-Cars (1962) and The Avengers (1967).