John Shrapnel
Born: 1942-04-27 in Birmingham, England, UK
Died: 2020-02-14
Known For: Acting
Biography
Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel.[1] As a stage actor, he was a member of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and most recently appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011. He has also appeared extensively in film and on television in roles in Elizabeth R, Z-Cars, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, 101 Dalmatians, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, Coogan's Run, Notting Hill and Foyle's War. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He gave performances in three entries in the BBC Television Shakespeare plays and as Creon in the BBC's 1984 productions of the Three Theban plays of Sophocles. In America, he has starred in supporting roles as Senator Gaius in Gladiator, Nestor in Troy and Pompey in the second episode of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. He also played the Jail Warden in the 10th Kingdom, an epic fantasy miniseries. He has the rare achievement of appearing in two episodes of Midsomer Murders as two different characters, in Death in Chorus and Written in Blood. Shrapnel appeared in an episode of Jonathan Creek as Professor Lance Graumann in the episode The Omega Man. He appears in Chemical Wedding alongside Simon Callow, telling the tale of the resurrection of occultist Aleister Crowley. Shrapnel also has experience in the field of BBC radio drama through such characters as Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse and William Gibson's Neuromancer. He is the son-in-law of Deborah Kerr through his 1975 marriage to her younger daughter Francesca Ann Bartley. They have three sons, the actors Lex Shrapnel (b.1979), Tom Shrapnel (b.1981) and the writer Joe Shrapnel (b.1976). They live in Highbury, north London.
Filmography
2022
2017
- King Charles III as Archbishop of Canterbury
- The Lions Rule as Narrator (voice)
- Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story as Narrator (Voice)
2016
- The Return of the Flying Scotsman as Narrator - (Voice)
2015
- Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale as Camilo
- Hamlet as Claudius/Ghost
2014
- OXI, an Act of Resistance as Creon
- Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain as Narrator
2013
- National Theatre Live: Macbeth as Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
- Run. as St. Peter
2011
- The Awakening as Reverend Hugh Purslow
2009
- National Theatre Live: Phèdre as Théramène
- An Organization of Dreams as Father
2008
- Merlin as The Sarrum
- Mirrors as Lorenzo Sapelli
- The Duchess as General Grey
- Apparitions as Cardinal Bukovak
- Chemical Wedding as Crowley
2007
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age as Lord Howard
- Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies as Himself (Narrator)
- Once Upon a Time on the Westway as Billy Palmer
2006
- Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire as Pompey
- Alien Autopsy as Michael Kuhn
2005
- Shadow of the Sword as Archbishop
- Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic as Narrator (English Version)
2004
- Troy as Nestor
- New Tricks as DAC John Felsham
- I Am Not an Animal as Narrator (voice)
- Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt as Narrator
- Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece as Narrator
- Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome as Narrator
2003
- The Race for Everest as Narrator
- Wild Women of Viramba as Narrator
2002
- Foyle's War as Raymond Brooks
- The Inspector Lynley Mysteries as Sergent Mike McCaffrey
- K-19: The Widowmaker as Admiral Bratyeev
- Claim as Lex Vandenberg
- Whistle as Paul
- Alone as Hannah
- Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty as Narrator (English Version)
2001
- Waking the Dead as John Christie
- The Body as Moshe Cohen
- The Gentleman Thief as Monty Sinclair
- Animals of the Ocean Desert as Narrator
- Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 as Narrator
2000
- Gladiator as Gaius
- The 10th Kingdom as Governor of Prison
- Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes as Narrator
1999
- Notting Hill as PR Chief
- Mary, Mother of Jesus as Simon
- Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters as General Charette
- The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka as Iwaszkiewicz
1998
- Invasion: Earth as Air Marshal Bentley
- Lion Queen as Narrator (voice)
1997
- Midsomer Murders as Max Jennings
- Jonathan Creek as Prof. Lance Graumann
- Bodyguards as Commander Alan MacIntyre
- Predators Killing for a Living
- True Tilda as Reverand Glasson
- St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral as Narrator (English voice)
1996
- 101 Dalmatians as Skinner
- Two Deaths as Cinca
1995
- Kavanagh Q.C. as Mr. Justice Griffin
- England, My England as Samuel Pepys
- King Arthur: His Life and Legends
1994
- Wycliffe as Dr. Sam Malvern
- Fatherland as General Globus
1993
- Selling Hitler as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
1992
- Between the Lines as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning
- Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
- SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich as Narrator
- Hamlet as Claudius
1991
- Selling Hitler as Gerd Schülte-Hillen
- G.B.H. as Dr Jacobs
- For the Greater Good as Norman May-Boys MP
1990
- The Chief as Dan Cheyney
- Centrepoint as Claud Wareing
- The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story as BKA Police Chief
1989
- Blackeyes as Detective Blake
- About Face
- How to Get Ahead in Advertising as Psychiatrist
1988
- The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Thomas Mann
- Testimony as Andre Zhdanov
1987
- Vanity Fair as Lord Steyne
- Personal Services as Lionel
- Partition as General Flood
1986
- Theban Plays: Antigone as Creon
- Theban Plays: Oedipus the King as Creon
- Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus as Creon
1985
- Screen Two as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
- Poppyland as George Sims
- The Burston Rebellion as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
1984
- Mr. Palfrey of Westminster as Adrian Vyner
1983
- Natural World as Narrator
1982
- The Woman in White as Sir Percival Glyde
- King Lear as Earl of Kent
1981
- Private Schulz as German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited)
- Troilus & Cressida as Hector
- Timon of Athens as Alcibiades
1980
- The Tom Machine
- The Victim as Vincent Craig
1979
- Gossip from the Forest as Matthias Erzberger
1978
- Edward and Mrs Simpson as Major Alexander Hardinge
- Armchair Thriller as Vincent Craig
- Edward & Mrs. Simpson as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
- Flayed as Robert
1977
- BBC2 Play of the Week as McKendrick
- Professional Foul as McKendrick
- The Three Hostages as Gaudian
1976
- Plays for Britain as Voice of Leonard Brazil
- Hitting Town as Leonard Brazil (voice)
1975
- Space: 1999 as Jack Tanner
- Hennessy as Tipaldi
- King Lear as Duke of Cornwall
1974
- Good Girl as Christopher Wimple
1972
- Pope Joan as Father James
1971
- Justice as Roger Anderson
- Elizabeth R as Earl of Sussex
- Nicholas and Alexandra as Petya
1969
- The Ha-Ha as Jamie
- It's Called the Sugar Plum as Wally Zuckerman
1967
- Omnibus as Zborowski
- ITV Playhouse as Schoner
1965
- BBC Play of the Month as Duke of Cornwall