Barry Brown was a persuasive actors' agent who used his expressive personality and sense of humour to further the interests of such clients as Sue Nicholls — better known as Audrey Roberts in Coronation Street — and Stephen Tompkinson, who played the bashful priest in Ballykissangel.

Barry Everard Brown was born in Manchester in 1934 to an impoverished background. Thanks to the wide variety of books which his father introduced him to via the local library, and the enlightened teaching at the local state schools, he gained scholarships which led him to the University of Nottingham, in 1952 to study English. He became a leading light in the university’s drama group and graduated in 1955. Unsure of what he wanted to do, he stayed on to train as a teacher.

He came to London in 1957 and started his career at a school in Harrow where he met Merlyn Rees, then a colleague, and supported his friend in his campaign to become an MP. He did not not fancy politics for himself, and his teaching career ended after three years but not before he had taught Michael Rosen, the children’s author and former Children’s Laureate. Despite winning popularity and some success in the profession, he realised it was not his metier, and he found a position in the American Embassy’s information department. This led to a four-month tour of the US during which he developed a lifelong love for America.

Work at the information department led him into advertising; he became a copywriter and worked on several prominent campaigns. In the early 1960s he coined the now much used phrase “Late to Eight” for a small shopping centre in Tunbridge Wells. He also developed the other, now somewhat clichéd, “Hot and Cool” catchline for the 18-30s Club.

Through all these career experiments he maintained his interest in the theatre. He performed with amateur groups, one of which staged old-time music-hall shows around North London. Through this he met Elizabeth Morgan, a radio actress, who asked him to help her in staging events for Amnesty International. This led to his taking over a cast which performed in Hampstead.

He also helped to raise money for the building of the Greenwich Theatre by taking a company to the Green Man in Blackheath and then to the restaurant at the theatre itself. He became chairman at the Players’ Theatre, known for its Victorian music hall traditions, in the West End. Watneys, the brewer, then offered Brown the opportunity to stage his own music hall show as a dinner/theatre club at a pub in Victoria. The project suffered from a lack of publicity and lasted only a few months, but during that time Brown became friendly with many actors, some of whom would complain about their representation, and his freelance status gave him time to try his hand as an actors’ agent. Over the following 30 years he represented many of the cast members of the popular soaps and at one time five of his clients appeared in Coronation Street together.

Sue Nicholls, still playing Audrey Roberts, was one of the first actresses to join him and remained with him until his retirement in 2004. He represented Sylvia Sims and Rory Bremner in the comic’s brief early career as a conventional actor.

He took on Stephen Tompkinson, who acted in the Drop the Dead Donkey TV-newsroom farce as well as Ballykissangel, straight from drama school. During their first meeting Brown made a remark which he adopted as something of a motto: “I will make you famous and you will make me rich.” Along with many other agents, Brown attended drama school performances and scoured productions on the fringe looking for talent.

From these beginnings many of Brown’s clients went on to play important roles at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He focused especially on television and on theatre and though he was less interested in film he would always strike hard bargains with companies that wanted to engage his clients. He took risks but knew the value of his actors and stuck out for the fee he thought they were worth. He usually won.

In his later years he became a respected figure at drama schools, talking to the students about how to present themselves to agents and what their audition pieces should be. He also enrolled at King’s College London, to study classics. Brown is survived by his wife, Ros, to whom he was married in 1970.

Barry Brown, actors’ agent, was born on November 14, 1934. He died of cancer on October 31, 2009, aged 74