John Shrapnel
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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
Credits
Troy (2004)
as Nestor
Gladiator (2000)
as Gaius
101 Dalmatians (1996)
as Skinner
Notting Hill (1999)
as PR Chief
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
as Lord Howard
Mirrors (2008)
as Lorenzo Sapelli
The Duchess (2008)
as General Grey
The Awakening (2011)
as Reverend Hugh Purslow
Fatherland (1994)
as General Globus
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty (2002)
as Narrator (English Version)
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
as Admiral Bratyeev
Two Deaths (1996)
as Cinca
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
as Petya
The Body (2001)
as Moshe Cohen
Flayed (1978)
as Robert
Alien Autopsy (2006)
as Michael Kuhn
Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999)
as Simon
Run. (2013)
as St. Peter
How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
as Psychiatrist
Personal Services (1987)
as Lionel
Hennessy (1975)
as Tipaldi
King Charles III (2017)
as Archbishop of Canterbury
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters (1999)
as General Charette
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story (1990)
as BKA Police Chief
Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes (2000)
as Narrator
Timon of Athens (1981)
as Alcibiades
King Lear (1975)
as Duke of Cornwall
Troilus & Cressida (1981)
as Hector
Shadow of the Sword (2005)
as Archbishop
The Return of the Flying Scotsman (2016)
as Narrator - (Voice)
The Ha-Ha (1969)
as Jamie
King Arthur: His Life and Legends (1995)
Actor
Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978)
as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
Hamlet Within (2022)
Actor
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral (1997)
as Narrator (English voice)
Wild Women of Viramba (2003)
as Narrator
The Gentleman Thief (2001)
as Monty Sinclair
Poppyland (1985)
as George Sims
The Burston Rebellion (1985)
as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
Gossip from the Forest (1979)
as Matthias Erzberger
England, My England (1995)
as Samuel Pepys
Selling Hitler (1993)
as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
The Three Hostages (1977)
as Gaudian
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic (2005)
as Narrator (English Version)
Once Upon a Time on the Westway (2007)
as Billy Palmer
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka (1999)
as Iwaszkiewicz
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (1992)
as Narrator
Pope Joan (1972)
as Father James
Theban Plays: Antigone (1986)
as Creon
Testimony (1988)
as Andre Zhdanov
Chemical Wedding (2008)
as Crowley
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus (1986)
as Creon
National Theatre Live: Phèdre (2009)
as Théramène
National Theatre Live: Macbeth (2013)
as Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
Whistle (2002)
as Paul
Partition (1987)
as General Flood
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King (1986)
as Creon
Hamlet (2015)
as Claudius/Ghost
Alone (2002)
as Hannah
King Lear (1982)
as Earl of Kent
Claim (2002)
as Lex Vandenberg
The Tom Machine (1980)
Actor
The Victim (1980)
as Vincent Craig
Professional Foul (1977)
as McKendrick
The Race for Everest (2003)
as Narrator
OXI, an Act of Resistance (2014)
as Creon
It's Called the Sugar Plum (1969)
as Wally Zuckerman
An Organization of Dreams (2009)
as Father
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (2015)
as Camilo
Hamlet (1992)
as Claudius
Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine (2000)
as Self - Narrator
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies (2007)
as Himself (Narrator)
Lion Queen (1998)
as Narrator (voice)
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt (2004)
as Narrator
Hitting Town (1976)
as Leonard Brazil (voice)
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece (2004)
as Narrator
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain (2014)
as Narrator
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 (2001)
as Narrator
Animals of the Ocean Desert (2001)
as Narrator
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story (2017)
as Narrator (Voice)
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome (2004)
as Narrator