John Shrapnel

John Shrapnel

  • Birthday: 1942-04-27
  • Deathday: 2020-02-14
  • Place of birth: Birmingham, England, UK
  • Also know as: John Morley Shrapnel

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

Supermassive Black Holes

2000

As Narrator

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies

2007

As Himself (Narrator)

Wild Women of Viramba

2003

As Narrator

The Return of the Flying Scotsman

2016

As Narrator - (Voice)

Alone

2002

As Hannah

Chemical Wedding

2008

As Crowley

Claim

2002

As Lex Vandenberg

Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic

2005

As Narrator (English Version)

St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral

1997

As Narrator (English voice)

Professional Foul

1977

As McKendrick

Hamlet

2015

As Claudius/Ghost

The Race for Everest

2003

As Narrator

Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty

2002

As Narrator (English Version)

Timon of Athens

1981

As Alcibiades

King Lear

1982

As Earl of Kent

The Burston Rebellion

1985

As Rev. Charles Tucker Eland

The Body

2001

As Moshe Cohen

Whistle

2002

As Paul

Gossip From The Forest

1979

As Matthias Erzberger

K-19: The Widowmaker

2002

As Admiral Bratyeev

National Theatre Live: Macbeth

2013

As Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man

Partition

1987

As General Flood

Troilus & Cressida

1981

As Hector

Poppyland

1985

As George Sims

National Theatre Live: Phèdre

2009

As Théramène

Hitting Town

1976

As Leonard Brazil (voice)

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

1989

As Psychiatrist

Fatherland

1994

As General Globus

Edward & Mrs. Simpson

1978

As Maj. Alexander Hardinge

The Ha-Ha

1969

As Jamie

The Awakening

2011

As Reverend Hugh Purslow

England, My England

1995

As Samuel Pepys

Testimony

1988

As Andre Zhdanov

101 Dalmatians

1996

As Skinner

Mary, Mother of Jesus

1999

As Simon

The Duchess

2008

As General Grey

Gladiator

2000

As Gaius

Two Deaths

1996

As Cinca

Mirrors

2008

As Lorenzo Sapelli

Alien Autopsy

2006

As Michael Kuhn

Selling Hitler

1991

As Gerd Schulte-Hillen

Hennessy

1975

As Tipaldi

King Charles III

2017

As Archbishop of Canterbury

Shadow of the Sword

2005

As Archbishop

Personal Services

1987

As Lionel

Notting Hill

1999

As PR Chief

Troy

2004

As Nestor

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

2007

As Lord Howard

Pope Joan

1972

As Father James

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