Cecil Parker
Born: 1897-09-02 in Hastings, Sussex, England, UK
Died: 1971-04-20
Known For: Acting
Biography
Cecil Parker (3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969. Born Cecil Schwabe in Hastings, Sussex, he began his theatrical career in London in 1922 after serving in World War I. He made his first film appearance in 1928 and subsequently became a familiar face in British, and occasionally American films, until his death. He appeared less often on television, but many of his films have remained popular and are often shown. He acted in two adaptations of A. J. Cronin's novels, The Citadel (1938) and The Stars Look Down (1940), in addition to appearing in The Lady Vanishes (1938) and Under Capricorn (1949), both of the later films were directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Other roles were in 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956), Dangerous Moonlight (1941), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), and I Was Monty's Double (1958), as well as the comedies A French Mistress (1960), The Ladykillers (1955), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Court Jester (1955), Indiscreet (1958) and I Believe in You (1952). Parker was also the original Charles Condomine in the West End production of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, a role subsequently played on Broadway by Clifton Webb and in the 1945 film by Rex Harrison. He often played a touchy senior officer or British upper-class character, and his last two films were true to form: The Magnificent Two (1967) with the British comedy double act Morecambe and Wise and Richard Attenborough's version of Oh! What A Lovely War (1969). He played an evil, scheming butler on one episode of The Avengers ("The £50,000 Breakfast"). Description above from the Wikipedia article Cecil Parker , licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
2002
- Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making as Self (archive)
1969
- Oh! What a Lovely War as Sir John
1967
- The Magnificent Two as Sir John
1966
- Circus of Fear as Sir John
- A Man Could Get Killed as Sir Huntley Frazier
1965
- A Study in Terror as Prime Minister
- Lady L as Sir Percy
- The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders as The Mayor
1964
- Sherlock Holmes
- Guns at Batasi as Fletcher
- The Comedy Man as Thomas Rutherford
- Carry On Jack as First Sea Lord
1963
- The Iron Maiden as Sir Giles Thompson
- Heavens Above! as Archdeacon Aspinall
1962
- The Saint as Lord Gillingham
- The Brain as Stevenson
- The Amorous Prawn as Gen. Sir Hamish Fitzadam
1961
- The Avengers as Glover
- On the Fiddle as Group Capt. Bascombe
- Petticoat Pirates as C-in-C
1960
- The Aquanauts as Dr. Cattermole
- Citizen James as Himself
- Swiss Family Robinson as Captain Moreland
- Under Ten Flags as Colonel Howard
- A French Mistress as John Crane M.A. Headmaster of Melbury School
- The Pure Hell of St Trinian's as Professor Canford
- Follow That Horse!
1959
- The Navy Lark as Cmdr. Stanton
- The Wreck of the Mary Deare as Inquiry Chairman
- The Night We Dropped a Clanger as Air Vice-Marshal Sir Bertram Bukpasser
1958
- A Tale of Two Cities as Jarvis Lorry
- Happy Is the Bride as Arthur Royd
- Indiscreet as Alfred Munson
- I Was Monty's Double as Colonel E.F. Logan
1957
- The Admirable Crichton as Lord Henry Loam
- True as a Turtle as Dudley Partridge
1956
- 23 Paces to Baker Street as Bob Matthews
- It's Great to be Young! as Frome, Headmaster
1955
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents as The Lawyer
- The Ladykillers as Claude, alias 'Major Courtney'
- The Court Jester as King Roderick I
- The Constant Husband as Llewellyn
1954
- Father Brown as The Bishop
- For Better, for Worse as John Purves
1953
- Isn't Life Wonderful! as Charles, the boy's father
1952
- The Magic Box as 1st Platform Man
- I Believe in You as Henry Phipps
- His Excellency as Sir James Kirkman
1951
- The Man in the White Suit as Alan Birnley
1950
- Robert Montgomery Presents as Sir Simon de Canterville
- Tony Draws a Horse
1949
- Under Capricorn as The Governor
- Dear Mr. Prohack as Arthur Prohack
- The Chiltern Hundreds as Benjamin Beecham
1948
- Studio One as Dr. Hans Hojda
- The Weaker Sex as Geoffrey Radcliffe
- The First Gentleman as The Prince Regent
- Quartet as Colonel George Peregrine (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
1947
- Hungry Hill as Copper John
- Captain Boycott as Capt. Charles C. Boycott
- The Woman in the Hall as Sir Halmar Barnard
1946
- The Magic Bow as Luigi Germi
1945
- Caesar and Cleopatra as Britannus
1941
- Ships with Wings as German Air Marshal
- Dangerous Moonlight as Specialist
- The Saint's Vacation as Rudolph Hauser
1940
- The Stars Look Down as Stanley Millington
- Under Your Hat as Sir Jeffrey Arlington
1939
- Sons of the Sea as Cmdr. Herbert
1938
- The Lady Vanishes as Eric Todhunter
- The Citadel as Dr. Charles Every
- Old Iron as Barnett
- It Might Be You as Dr. Smith
- Housemaster as Sir Berkeley Nightingale
1937
- Storm in a Teacup as Provost William Gow
- Dark Journey as Captain Of Q-Boat
1936
- Men of Yesterday
- The Man Who Changed His Mind as Dr. Gratton
- Dishonour Bright as Vincent Crane
- Jack of All Trades as Sir Chas. Darrington
1935
- Crime Unlimited as Assistant Commissioner
- The Guv'nor as Bank Director
- Her Last Affaire as Sir Arthur Harding
- Foreign Affaires as Lord Wormington
- Me and Marlborough as Colonel of the Greys
1934
- Little Friend as Mason
- The Blue Squadron as Bianchi
- The Silver Spoon as Trevor
- Dirty Work as Gordon Bray
- Lady in Danger as Piker
- The Office Wife as Lawrence Bradley
1933
- The Golden Cage
- A Cuckoo in the Nest as Claude Hickett