Geoffrey Palmer (actor)
Geoffrey Palmer OBE | |
---|---|
Born | Geoffrey Dyson Palmer 4 June 1927 Finchley, Middlesex, England |
Died | 5 November 2020 , Hertfordshire, England | (aged 93)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1955–2020 |
Spouse |
Sally Green (m. 1963) |
Children | 2, including Charles Palmer |
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer
Early life and education
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in
Career
Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of
Two BBC sitcom roles brought him attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983).[2]
In 1978 Palmer appeared as
Palmer played Doctor Price in the
Palmer later starred opposite
.Palmer's voice-over skills led to frequent work in commercials. Campaigns he was involved with include the 'Slam in the Lamb' ads for the Meat & Livestock Commission and the
In the 2006 DVD series The Compleat Angler, Palmer partnered Rae Borras in a series of episodes based on
Personal life and death
Palmer married Sally Green in 1963.[8] They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director.[9] Palmer was a longtime resident of Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire,[10] and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time.[1][8] At the time of his death, he resided in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.[2][11]
Palmer died from
Awards and recognition
In the New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004 he was appointed an
Appearances
Stage
- Sabrina Fair by Samuel Taylor at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham (1955).
- Eden End by J. B. Priestley at the Royal National Theatre (1974).
- Kafka's Dick by Alan Bennett at the Royal Court Theatre (1986).
- West of Suez by John Osbourne.[8]
Radio
- At Home with the Snails (2001–2002)
- Inspector Javert(2002)
- The Man Who Was Thursday (2005)[17]
- High Table, Lower Orders (2005–2006)
- The Maltby Collection (2007–2009)
- A Murder of Quality (2009)
- C.S. Lewis (2009) [18]
- North by Northamptonshire (2011–2012)
- Two Pipe Problems: The Case of the Missing Meerschaum as Mortimer Tregennis (2011)[19]
Television
- The Army Game[8] (1958–1960) as Various Characters
- The Strange World of Gurney Slade (1960) as Television Studio Floor Manager in Episode 1
- ’’Interpol Calling (1960) in Episode "Desert Hijack"
- The Avengers:
- "Propellant 23"[20] (1962) as Paul Manning
- "Man with Two Shadows"[20] (1963) as Dr. Terence
- The Human Jungle
- "A Surfeit of H2O"[20] (1965) as Martin Smythe
- The Saint:
- "The Rough Diamonds"[20] (1963) as Pete Ferguson
- Gideon's Way (TV Series)
- "The Alibi Man"[20] (1965) as Jeff Grant
- Out of the Unknown
- "No Place Like Earth" (1965) as Chief Officer
- The Baron:[8]
- "Masquerade" (1966) as Anstruther
- "The Killing" (1966) as Anstruther
- The Wednesday Play:
- Cathy Come Home[8] (1966) as Property Agent
- Mrs Thursday (1966) as Henry Baxter
- Best of Enemies (1968) as Johnson
- Doctor Who
- "Doctor Who and the Silurians"[20] (1970) as Masters
- "The Mutants"[20] (1972) as Administrator
- "Voyage of the Damned" (2007)[8] as Captain Hardaker
- Colditz – Gone Away Part 1[20] (1972) as Doc
- Whodunnit! (1975) as Suspect
- The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin[20] (1976–1979) as Jimmy Anderson
- Butterflies[20] (1978–1983) as Ben Parkinson
- The Sweeney (1978) as Commander Watson in "Feet of Clay"
- The Professionals (1978) as Sinclair in "Where the Jungle Ends"
- The Kipper and the Corpse"[8](1979) as Dr. Price
- The Goodies (1980) as School Headmaster
- The Last Song (1981) as Leo Bannister
- Whoops Apocalypse (1982) as Foreign Secretary
- Death of an Expert Witness (1983) as Dr. Edwin Lorrimer
- The Professionals (1983) as Avery in "The Ojuka Situation"
- Fairly Secret Army (1984–1986) as Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott
- Executive Stress (1986 first series only) as Donald Fairchild No. 1
- Season's Greetings (1986) as Bernard
- Hot Metal (1986) as Harold Stringer
- Christabel(1988) as Mr. Burton
- Blackadder Goes Forth
- "Goodbyeee"[20] (1989) as Field Marshal Douglas Haig
- Inspector Morse
- "The Infernal Serpent"[20] (1990) as Matthew Copley-Barnes
- Bergerac
- "Roots of Evil"[20] (1990) as Nigel Carter
- As Time Goes By (1992–2005) as Lionel Hardcastle
- Mr. Men and Little Miss as the Narrator and Santa Claus (in "The Christmas Letter")
- The Legacy of Reginald Perrin(1996) as Jimmy Anderson
- Alice through the Looking Glass (1998) as White King
- The Savages (2001) as Donald
- The 1940s House (2001) as Narrator
- Stig of the Dump (2002) as Robert
- Absolute Power(2003) as Lord Harcourt
- Grumpy Old Men[8] (2003–2004, 2006) as Narrator
- He Knew He Was Right (2004) as Sir Marmaduke Rowley
- Grumpy Old Holidays (2006) as Narrator
- Ashes to Ashes:
- "Episode 8" (2008); as Lord Scarman
- "
- The Long Walk to Finchley (2008); as John Crowder
- Agatha Christie's Poirot:
- "The Clocks" (2011) as Vice Admiral Hamling
- "
- Grandpa in My Pocket
- "Captain Dumbletwit's Toughest Mission Yet!" (2010) as Grandad Gillbert
- Rev
- "Christmas Special" Series 2, episode 7 (2011) as Martin
- Henry IV, Part II (2012); as Lord Chief Justice
- Royal Variety Performance (2014); as the Announcer (voice only)
Film
- A Prize of Arms (1962) as Cpl. Myers
- Incident at Midnight (1963) as Dr. Tanfield
- Ring of Spies (1964) as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) as David (uncredited)
- O Lucky Man! (1973) as Examinator Doctor / Basil Keyes
- The Battle of Billy's Pond (1976) as First Policeman
- The Outsider(1979) as Colonel Wyndham
- Mr. Kershaw's Dream System (1982) as Psychiatrist
- The Honorary Consul (1983) as Belfrage: British Ambassador
- A Zed & Two Noughts (1985) as Fallast
- Clockwise (1986) as Headmaster
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988) as Judge
- Hawks (1988) as SAAB Salesman
- The Madness of King George[8] (1994) as Warren
- Mrs. Brown (1997) as Henry Ponsonby[8]
- Tomorrow Never Dies[8] (1997) as Admiral Roebuck
- Stiff Upper Lips (1998) as His Butler's Voice
- Anna and the King (1999) as Lord John Bradley
- Rat (2000) as The Doctor
- Peter Pan (2003) as Sir Edward Quiller Couch
- Piccadilly Jim (2004) as Bayliss
- The Pink Panther 2 (2009) as Joubert
- W.E.[21] (2011) as Stanley Baldwin
- Lost Christmas (2011) as Dr. Clarence
- Run for Your Wife (2012) as Man on Bus
- Bert and Dickie (2012) as Charles Burnell
- The Last Sparks of Sundown (2014) as Sir Buster Sparks (voice)
- Paddington[21](2014) as The Boss Geographer
- To Olivia (2021) as Geoffrey Fisher (final film role)
Recordings (spoken word)
- Welcome to the Pleasuredome (Fruitness Mix) (1985)
- Esio Trot (1990)
- The BFG (1989)
- A Christmas Carol (2005)
- The Diary of a Nobody (2007)
References
- ^ a b c "Geoffrey Palmer, veteran actor best known for the sitcoms Butterflies and As Time Goes By – obituary". The Telegraph. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381683. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, vol. 2, ed. Joshua Kondek, Cengage Gale, 1985, p. 232
- ^ Tucker, Rodney C. Highgate School Register 1838-1950 (5th ed.). p. 408.
- ^ "The Spectator (11 June 2011)". Exacteditions.com. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ^ "The Penguin Podcast: A Christmas Carol – Episode 1". 15 December 2005. Archived from the original on 17 December 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ^ "Kylie Boards Titanic!". BBC. 11 July 2007. Archived from the original on 25 November 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Obituary: Geoffrey Palmer". BBC News. 6 November 2020.
- ^ Loose Women, 12 December 2011
- ^ "Great British Life".
- ^ Grove, Valerie (26 January 2022). "30 OLDIE CLASSICS FOR OUR 30TH BIRTHDAY! 4/30 RIP the great Geoffrey Palmer at 93 – Valerie Grove". The Oldie. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
He and Sally now live in Old Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire
- ^ Bawden-Gaul, Scarlett (6 November 2020). "Geoffrey Palmer, actor and anti-HS2 campaigner, dies aged 93". Planet Radio. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ "Geoffrey Palmer, TV and film actor, dies at 93". BBC News. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ Coveney, Michael (6 November 2020). "Geoffrey Palmer obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ "The London Gazette". 31 December 2004: 12. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "NPG 6755; Geoffrey Palmer - Portrait - National Portrait Gallery, London". National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra – G. K. Chesterton – The Man Who Was Thursday". BBC. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
- ^ "The Screwtape Letters".
- ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Afternoon Drama, Two Pipe Problems, The Case of the Missing Meerschaum". BBC. 25 December 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Geoffrey Palmer". BFI. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
- ^ a b "Geoffrey Palmer, TV and film actor, dies at 93". BBC News. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.