John Shrapnel
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 27, 1942
- Died
- February 14, 2020 (aged 77)
- Birthplace
- Birmingham, England, UK
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.
Known For
Filmography
Hamlet Within
Movie
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
Movie · as Narrator (Voice)
King Charles III
Movie · as Archbishop of Canterbury
The Lions Rule
TV · as Narrator (voice) · 3 eps
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
Movie · as Narrator - (Voice)
Hamlet
Movie · as Claudius/Ghost
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Movie · as Camilo
OXI, an Act of Resistance
Movie · as Creon
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
Movie · as Narrator
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Movie · as Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
Run.
Movie · as St. Peter
The Awakening
Movie · as Reverend Hugh Purslow
An Organization of Dreams
Movie · as Father
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
Movie · as Théramène
Chemical Wedding
Movie · as Crowley
The Duchess
Movie · as General Grey
Mirrors
Movie · as Lorenzo Sapelli
Apparitions
TV · as Cardinal Bukovak · 6 eps
Merlin
TV · as The Sarrum · 1 ep
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Movie · as Lord Howard
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
Movie · as Himself (Narrator)
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
Movie · as Billy Palmer
Alien Autopsy
Movie · as Michael Kuhn
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
TV · as Pompey · 1 ep
Shadow of the Sword
Movie · as Archbishop
Troy
Movie · as Nestor
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
Movie · as Narrator
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
Movie · as Narrator
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
Movie · as Narrator
I Am Not an Animal
TV · as Narrator (voice) · 6 eps
New Tricks
TV · as DAC John Felsham · 1 ep
Wild Women of Viramba
Movie · as Narrator
The Race for Everest
Movie · as Narrator
K-19: The Widowmaker
Movie · as Admiral Bratyeev
Alone
Movie · as Hannah
Claim
Movie · as Lex Vandenberg
Whistle
Movie · as Paul
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
TV · as Sergent Mike McCaffrey · 1 ep
Foyle's War
TV · as Raymond Brooks · 1 ep
The Body
Movie · as Moshe Cohen
Animals of the Ocean Desert
Movie · as Narrator
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
Movie · as Narrator
The Gentleman Thief
Movie · as Monty Sinclair
The Misfit and the Matterhorn
Movie · as Narrator
Waking the Dead
TV · as John Christie · 2 eps
Gladiator
Movie · as Gaius
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes
Movie · as Narrator
Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine
Movie · as Self - Narrator
The 10th Kingdom
TV · as Governor of Prison · 5 eps
Notting Hill
Movie · as PR Chief
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
Movie · as General Charette
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Movie · as Simon
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
Movie · as Iwaszkiewicz
Lion Queen
Movie · as Narrator (voice)
Solo Shuttle
Movie · as Cain
Invasion: Earth
TV · as Air Marshal Bentley · 6 eps
Bodyguards
TV · as Commander Alan MacIntyre · 7 eps
Predators Killing for a Living
TV · 13 eps
Jonathan Creek
TV · as Prof. Lance Graumann · 1 ep
Midsomer Murders
TV · as Max Jennings, Leo Clarke · 1 ep
True Tilda
TV · as Reverand Glasson · 6 eps
Two Deaths
Movie · as Cinca
101 Dalmatians
Movie · as Skinner
Alien Empire
TV · as Narrator · 6 eps
England, My England
Movie · as Samuel Pepys
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
Movie
Kavanagh Q.C.
TV · as Mr. Justice Griffin · 1 ep
Coogan's Run
TV · as Douglas Crown · 1 ep
Fatherland
Movie · as General Globus
Wycliffe
TV · as Dr. Sam Malvern · 1 ep
Selling Hitler
Movie · as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Movie · as Narrator
Hamlet
Movie · as Claudius
Between the Lines
TV · as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning, D.C.C. Dunning · 13 eps
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
TV · as Claudius / The Ghost (voice) · 1 ep
G.B.H.
TV · as Dr Jacobs · 3 eps
For the Greater Good
TV · as Norman May-Boys MP · 2 eps
Selling Hitler
TV · as Gerd Schülte-Hillen · 1 ep
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
Movie · as BKA Police Chief
Centrepoint
TV · as Claud Wareing · 4 eps
The Chief
TV · as Dan Cheyney · 1 ep
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Movie · as Psychiatrist
About Face
TV · as Donald
Blackeyes
TV · as Detective Blake · 3 eps
Testimony
Movie · as Andre Zhdanov
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
TV · as Thomas Mann · 1 ep
Partition
Movie · as General Flood
Personal Services
Movie · as Lionel
Vanity Fair
TV · as Lord Steyne · 5 eps
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Movie · as Creon
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
Movie · as Creon
Theban Plays: Antigone
Movie · as Creon
Poppyland
Movie · as George Sims
The Burston Rebellion
Movie · as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
Screen Two
TV · as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland, Heiger · 1 ep
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
TV · as Adrian Vyner · 1 ep
Sorrell and Son
TV · as Thomas Roland · 6 eps
Natural World
TV · as Narrator · 10 eps
King Lear
Movie · as Earl of Kent
The Woman in White
TV · as Sir Percival Glyde · 5 eps
Timon of Athens
Movie · as Alcibiades
Troilus & Cressida
Movie · as Hector
Private Schulz
TV · as German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited) · 3 eps
The Tom Machine
Movie
The Victim
Movie · as Vincent Craig
Gossip from the Forest
Movie · as Matthias Erzberger
Screenplay
TV · as Matthias Erzberger · 1 ep
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
Movie · as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
Flayed
Movie · as Robert
Edward and Mrs Simpson
TV · as Major Alexander Hardinge · 5 eps
Armchair Thriller
TV · as Vincent Craig · 4 eps
Professional Foul
Movie · as McKendrick
The Three Hostages
Movie · as Gaudian
BBC2 Play of the Week
TV · as McKendrick, Robert · 1 ep
Hitting Town
Movie · as Leonard Brazil (voice)
Plays for Britain
TV · as Voice of Leonard Brazil · 1 ep
Hennessy
Movie · as Tipaldi
King Lear
Movie · as Duke of Cornwall
Space: 1999
TV · as Jack Tanner · 1 ep
Good Girl
TV · as Christopher Wimple · 4 eps
Pope Joan
Movie · as Father James
Nicholas and Alexandra
Movie · as Petya
Elizabeth R
TV · as Earl of Sussex · 3 eps
Justice
TV · as Roger Anderson · 1 ep
The Ha-Ha
Movie · as Jamie
It's Called the Sugar Plum
Movie · as Wally Zuckerman
Omnibus
TV · as Zborowski · 1 ep
ITV Playhouse
TV · as Schoner · 1 ep
BBC Play of the Month
TV · as Duke of Cornwall, Viktor Myshlaevsky · 1 ep