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Acting
Geoffrey Palmer
Also known as: Geoffrey Dyson Palmer
Biography
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (4 June 1927 - 5 November 2020) was an English actor known for his roles in British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983) and Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1992–2005). His film appearances include A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Madness of King George (1994), Mrs. Brown (1997), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in North Finchley, Middlesex. He was the son of Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor, and Norah Gwendolen (née Robins). He attended Highgate School from September 1939 to December 1945. He served as a corporal instructor in small arms and field training in the Royal Marines during his national service from 1946 to 1948, following which he briefly worked as an unpaid trainee assistant stage manager. Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of The Army Game (Granada Television), two episodes of The Baron and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home (1966). After a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he acted in major productions at the Royal Court and for the National Theatre Company and was directed by Laurence Olivier in J. B. Priestley's Eden End. Palmer found the play so dull, however, that he was deterred from a stage career. 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). In 1978, Palmer appeared as organized crimelord Simon Sinclair in London Weekend Television's hard-hitting police drama The Professionals, the episode entitled "Where the Jungle Ends". Palmer played Doctor Price in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979), determined to have breakfast amidst the confusion caused by the death of a guest and Fawlty's inept way of handling the emergency. In 1986, Palmer appeared as Donald Fairchild in the first series of an ITV sitcom, Executive Stress, alongside Penelope Keith. He later left, and was replaced by Peter Bowles. Palmer later starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in another BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By (1992–2005). In 1997, he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck to Dench's M, and Mrs Brown, playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Dench's Queen Victoria. Palmer married Sally Green in 1963. They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director. Palmer was a longtime resident of Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time. At the time of his death, he resided in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Palmer died peacefully at his home on 5 November 2020, aged 93.
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
June 4, 1927
Day of Death
November 5, 2020
Age at Death
93 years old
Place of Birth
Finchley, Middlesex, England, UK
Popularity Score
1.0
Filmography
To Olivia
2021Movie
Paddington
Head Geographer
2014Movie
Walrus: Two Tonne Tusker
Narrator
2013Movie
Bert & Dickie
Charles Burnell
2012Movie
Run For Your Wife
Man on Toilet
2012Movie
Queen Victoria's Last Love: Abdul Karim
Narrator
2012Movie
The Hollow Crown
Lord Chief Justice
2012TV
Lost Christmas
Dr. Clarence
2011Movie
W.E.
Stanley Baldwin
2011Movie
The Pink Panther 2
Joubert
2009Movie
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
Self / Dr Price
2009Movie
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley
Sir John Crowder
2008Movie
Ashes to Ashes
Lord Scarman
2008TV
Chateau Monty
2008TV
Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned
Captain Hardaker
2007Movie
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
Self
2007TV
James Bond's Greatest Hits
Narrator (voice)
2006Movie
The One Show
Self
2006TV
The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
Corbett's Ghost
2005Movie
Pope John Paul II: 1920 - 2005
Narrator
2005Movie
The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
Self
2005Movie
Piccadilly Jim
Bayliss
2004Movie
He Knew He Was Right
Sir Marmaduke Rowley
2004TV
The Young Visiters
Minnit
2003Movie
Peter Pan
Sir Edward Quiller Couch
2003Movie
Absolute Power
2003TV
Grumpy Old Men
Narrator
2003TV
Looking for Victoria
Narrator
2003TV
Stig of the Dump
Robert
2002TV
Dickens
Thackeray
2002TV
The Savages
Donald
2001TV
The 1940s House
Narrator (voice)
2001TV
Rat
The Doctor
2000Movie
Anna and the King
Lord John Bradley
1999Movie
Alice Through the Looking Glass
White King
1998Movie
Reckless: The Sequel
Robert Crane
1998Movie
Mr. Men & Little Miss: The Christmas Letter
Narrator / Santa
1998Movie
Stiff Upper Lips
His Butler's Voice
1998Movie
Tomorrow Never Dies
Admiral Roebuck
1997Movie
Mrs Brown
Henry Ponsonby
1997Movie
The Legacy of Reginald Perrin
1996TV
Mr. Men and Little Miss
1995TV
Look at the State We're In!
The Ruler
1995TV
The Madness of King George
Warren
1994Movie
Stalag Luft
The Kommandant
1993Movie
As Time Goes By
Lionel Hardcastle
1992TV
A Question of Attribution
Donleavy
1991Movie
Smack and Thistle
Sir Horace Wimbol
1991Movie
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Vice Admiral Hamling
1989TV
Screen One
Donleavy
1989TV
A Fish Called Wanda
Judge
1988Movie
Hawks
SAAB Salesman
1988Movie
Christabel
Mr Burton
1988TV
Inspector Morse
Matthew Copley-Barnes
1987TV
Season's Greetings
Bernard
1986Movie
The Insurance Man
The Angry Doctor
1986Movie
Clockwise
Headmaster
1986Movie
Executive Stress
1986TV
Hot Metal
Harold Stringer
1986TV
A Zed & Two Noughts
Fallast
1985Movie
Inside Rooms: 26 Bathrooms, London & Oxfordshire
Narrator
1985Movie
Absurd Person Singular
Ronald Brewster-Wright
1985Movie
Radio Pictures
Glyn Bryce
1985Movie
Oxbridge Blues
Fred
1984TV
Fairly Secret Army
Major Harry Truscott
1984TV
The Honorary Consul
British Ambassador
1983Movie
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Jimmy Anderson
1983Movie
Waters of the Moon
Robert Lancaster
1983Movie
Natural World
Narrator
1983TV
Dalgliesh
Edwin Lorrimer
1983TV
Blackadder
Field Marshal Haig
1983TV
Death of an Expert Witness
Edwin Lorrimer
1983TV
Mr. Kershaw's Dream System
Psychiastrist
1982Movie
The Houseboy
Eric
1982Movie
The Funny Side of Christmas
Jimmy Anderson, Ben Parkinson
1982Movie
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Various
1982TV
Whoops Apocalypse
Foreign Secretary
1982TV
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Quince
1981Movie
The Last Song
1981TV
Bergerac
Nigel Carter
1981TV
Plays for Pleasure
Alec Boot
1981TV
Safe at Work?
Narrator
1980Movie
The Outsider
Col. Wyndham
1979Movie
Butterflies
Ben Parkinson
1978TV
An Audience with...
Self
1978TV
Scorpion Tales
Arnold Sparrow
1978TV
The Professionals
Avery
1977TV
Maidens' Trip
Wilfred
1977TV
Loyalties
Graviter
1976Movie
The Battle of Billy's Pond
First Policeman
1976Movie
A Story to Frighten the Children
Det. Chief Insp. Harris
1976Movie
Bill Brand
Malcolm Frear
1976TV
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Jimmy Anderson
1976TV
Goodbye
Jack
1975Movie
The Sweeney
Commander Watson
1975TV
Fawlty Towers
Dr. Price
1975TV
Angels
1975TV
Three Comedies of Marriage
Dennis
1975TV
Churchill's People
Samuel Partridge
1974TV
Happy Ever After
Mr Critchley
1974TV
Only Make Believe
Richard Nicholls
1973Movie
O Lucky Man!
Examination Doctor/Basil Keyes
1973Movie
Away from It All
Ashe
1973TV
Doctor Who: The Mutants
Administrator
1972Movie
Colditz
Doc
1972TV
Van der Valk
Head of Faculty
1972TV
Crown Court
Kenneth Eden
1972TV
Six Days of Justice
Mr. Nicholas
1972TV
Michael Regan
Chief Superintendent
1971Movie
The Uninvited
Jack Mervyn
1971Movie
Doctor Who and the Silurians
Masters
1970Movie
The High Game
Man at the Clinic
1970Movie
Doomwatch
Major Sims
1970TV
Play for Today
1970TV
The Goodies
School Headmaster
1970TV
Ben Travers Farces
Hugh Stafford
1970TV
Menace
Major Ryder
1970TV
1+1=1.5
Gosford
1969Movie
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Mac
1969TV
The Chequers Manoeuvre
Professor Wybrow
1968Movie
The Expert
Asst. Chief Constable Rogers
1968TV
Frost on Sunday
Self – Guest
1968TV
The Revenue Men
Bill Mitchell
1967TV
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
Oliver Cromwell
1967TV
ITV Playhouse
Harper
1967TV
Trapped
Doctor Clay Morrow
1967TV
City '68
Robins
1967TV
Cathy Come Home
Property Agent
1966Movie
Softly, Softly
1966TV
Mystery and Imagination
Turner
1966TV
No Place Like Earth
Chief Officer
1965Movie
Out of the Unknown
Jack Mervyn
1965TV
The Joe Baker Show
1965TV
Gideon's Way
Jeff Grant
1965TV
The Troubleshooters
Jeremy Martin
1965TV
The Man in Room 17
Ian McWatt
1965TV
BBC Play of the Month
Monteith
1965TV
Londoners
Jack Poncey
1965TV
Thirty-Minute Theatre
Professor Wybrow
1965TV
Ring of Spies
Police Officer (uncredited)
1964Movie
The Wednesday Play
Property Agent
1964TV
Detective
Chief Superintendent Smeed
1964TV
Incident at Midnight
Dr. Tanfield
1963Movie
Drama '63: A Well Dressed Man
Basil Mallard
1963Movie
The Human Jungle
Williams
1963TV
Doctor Who
Administrator
1963TV
A Prize of Arms
Cpl. Myers
1962Movie
The Saint
Pete Ferguson
1962TV
Bulldog Breed
1962TV
Suspense
Newspaper Reporter
1962TV
The Avengers
Dr. Terence
1961TV
Drama 61-67
Basil Mallard
1961TV
Family Solicitor
Hugh Cowley
1961TV
The Odd Man
Const. Swift
1960TV
The Strange World of Gurney Slade
Floor manager
1960TV
No Hiding Place
Det. Sgt. Walsh
1959TV
Armchair Theatre
Rankin
1956TV
Best Of Enemies
—TV