Geoffrey Palmer (actor)
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- This article is about the actor. For other uses, see Geoffrey Palmer.
| Geoffrey Palmer | |
 Geoffrey Palmer as Lionel Hardcastle |
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| Born | 4 June 1927 London, England |
| Notable roles | Ben Parkinson in Butterflies Lionel Hardcastle |
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer OBE (born 4 June 1927) is an English actor, noted mostly for his extensive career in situation comedies.
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[edit] Biography
Having been demobilised from the Royal Marines, Palmer drifted into theatre, joining a local amateur dramatics society because of a girlfriend. He became assistant stage manager at the Q Theatre, by Kew Bridge, then the Grand Theatre in Croydon. He spent several years touring with a repertory company and was a mainly theatre actor, coming to television and public prominence late in his career.
Getting a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he then acted in major productions at the Royal Court and the Royal National Theatre. Many of his television parts were as a stuffy, middle class buffoon, or known for deadpan drollery. His distinctive voice has led to a career in advert and television voiceovers, most notably Grumpy Old Men.
He starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in the situation comedy As Time Goes By; it has been rerun extensively in the U.S. on PBS and BBC America and may thus be the role for which American audiences remember him the most.
In 1997 Palmer once again had the chance to star opposite his close friend and colleague Dench in the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies where he portrayed the British admiral, Admiral Roebuck and in the film Mrs. Brown as Queen Victoria's scheming Private Secretary Sir Henry Ponsonby.
Palmer lives in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. He married Sally in 1963 and they have two children, Charles and Harriet, and one grandson, Billy.
He narrated the audiobook version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, released in 2005 as a podcast by Penguin Books.
Palmer played the role of a property agent in Cathy Come Home, a highly influential drama documentary shown on British TV in 1966.
[edit] Awards and recognition
In the New Year's Honours List published 31 December 2004 he was created an OBE for services to drama.
[edit] Selected filmography
[edit] Television
- The Army Game (1958–1959)
- Cathy Come Home (1966) (The Wednesday Play)
- Doctor Who — Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970)
- Doctor Who — The Mutants (1972)
- The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976)
- Butterflies (1978)
- The Goodies (1980)
- Whoops Apocalypse (1982)
- Fairly Secret Army (1984)
- Executive Stress (1988)
- Inspector Morse — "The Infernal Serpent" (1990)
- As Time Goes By (1992–2005)
- The Savages (2001)
- Absolute Power (2003)
[edit] Film
- O Lucky Man! (1973)
- A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)
- Clockwise (1986)
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
- Hawks (1988)
- The Madness of King George (1994)
- Mrs. Brown (1997)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- Anna and the King (1999)
- Peter Pan (2003)
- Flushed Away (2006) (voice)
