Name
Cecil Parker
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1897-09-02
Deathday
1971-04-20 (74 years old)
Place of Birth
Hastings, Sussex, England, UK
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.
Known For
6.834
After being shipwrecked, the Robinson family is marooned on an island inhabited only by an...
7.429
On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in...
7.3
A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against a u...
6.007
A British ex-convict in colonial Australia and his fragile wife, haunted by the past crime...
7.28
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogena...
6.886
The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will ne...
6.2
At the height of the Roman Civil War, an aging Julius Caesar finds himself intrigued by th...
6.6
The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five ...
- 1938 The Lady Vanishes as Eric Todhunter
- 1958 A Tale of Two Cities as Jarvis Lorry
- 1960 The Pure Hell of St Trinian's as Professor Canford
- 1955 The Ladykillers as Claude, alias 'Major Courtney'
- 1936 The Man Who Changed His Mind as Dr. Gratton
- 1958 Indiscreet as Alfred Munson
- 1938 Housemaster as Sir Berkeley Nightingale
- 1945 Caesar and Cleopatra as Britannus
- 1955 The Court Jester as King Roderick I
- 1964 Carry On Jack as First Sea Lord
- 1951 The Man in the White Suit as Alan Birnley
- 1935 Crime Unlimited as Assistant Commissioner
- 1966 Circus of Fear as Sir John
- 1954 For Better, for Worse as John Purves
- 1940 The Stars Look Down as Stanley Millington
- 1957 The Admirable Crichton as Lord Henry Loam
- 1960 Swiss Family Robinson as Captain Moreland
- 1956 23 Paces to Baker Street as Bob Matthews
- 1934 The Blue Squadron as Bianchi
- 1941 Dangerous Moonlight as Specialist
- 1938 The Citadel as Dr. Charles Every
- 1937 Storm in a Teacup as Provost William Gow
- 1955 The Constant Husband as Llewellyn
- 1958 I Was Monty's Double as Colonel E.F. Logan
- 1964 The Comedy Man as Thomas Rutherford
- 1948 Quartet as Colonel George Peregrine (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
- 1941 The Saint's Vacation as Rudolph Hauser
- 1954 Father Brown as The Bishop
- 1963 The Iron Maiden as Sir Giles Thompson
- 1960 Under Ten Flags as Colonel Howard
- 1939 Sons of the Sea as Cmdr. Herbert
- 1960 A French Mistress as John Crane M.A. Headmaster of Melbury School
- 1961 On the Fiddle as Group Capt. Bascombe
- 1947 Hungry Hill as Copper John
- 1949 Dear Mr. Prohack as Arthur Prohack
- 1946 The Magic Bow as Luigi Germi
- 1953 Isn't Life Wonderful! as Charles, the boy's father
- 1959 The Night We Dropped a Clanger as Air Vice-Marshal Sir Bertram Bukpasser
- 1966 A Man Could Get Killed as Sir Huntley Frazier
- 1952 I Believe in You as Henry Phipps
- 1952 His Excellency as Sir James Kirkman
- 1961 Petticoat Pirates as C-in-C
- 1947 Captain Boycott as Capt. Charles C. Boycott
- 1963 Heavens Above! as Archdeacon Aspinall
- 1958 Happy Is the Bride as Arthur Royd
- 1962 The Brain as Stevenson
- 1967 The Magnificent Two as Sir John
- 1964 Guns at Batasi as Fletcher
- 1962 The Amorous Prawn as Gen. Sir Hamish Fitzadam
- 1933 A Cuckoo in the Nest as Claude Hickett
- 1934 Dirty Work as Gordon Bray
- 1959 The Navy Lark as Cmdr. Stanton
- 1947 The Woman in the Hall as Sir Halmar Barnard
- 1950 Tony Draws a Horse
- 1936 Jack of All Trades as Sir Chas. Darrington
- 1935 Me and Marlborough as Colonel of the Greys
- 1934 Little Friend as Mason
- 1949 The Chiltern Hundreds as Benjamin Beecham
- 1935 Her Last Affaire as Sir Arthur Harding
- 1936 Dishonour Bright as Vincent Crane
- 1934 Lady in Danger as Piker
- 1940 Under Your Hat as Sir Jeffrey Arlington
- 1949 Under Capricorn as The Governor
- 1933 The Golden Cage
- 1959 The Wreck of the Mary Deare as Inquiry Chairman
- 1935 Foreign Affaires as Lord Wormington
- 1960 Follow That Horse!
- 1941 Ships with Wings as German Air Marshal
- 1934 The Silver Spoon as Trevor
- 1934 The Office Wife as Lawrence Bradley
- 1969 Oh! What a Lovely War as Sir John
- 1935 The Guv'nor as Bank Director
- 1952 The Magic Box as 1st Platform Man
- 1956 It's Great to be Young! as Frome, Headmaster
- 1948 The Weaker Sex as Geoffrey Radcliffe
- 1937 Dark Journey as Captain Of Q-Boat
- 1957 True as a Turtle as Dudley Partridge
- 1965 A Study in Terror as Prime Minister
- 1961 On the Fiddle as Gr/Cpt Bascombe
- 1948 The First Gentleman as The Prince Regent
- 1965 The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders as The Mayor
- 1965 Lady L as Sir Percy
- 1936 Men of Yesterday
- 2002 Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making as Self (archive)
- 1938 It Might Be You as Dr. Smith
- 1938 Old Iron as Barnett
- 1961 The Avengers ( 1 episode ) as Glover
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as Dr. Hans Hojda
- 1962 The Saint ( 1 episode ) as Lord Gillingham
- 1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents ( 1 episode ) as The Lawyer
- 1960 The Aquanauts ( 1 episode ) as Dr. Cattermole
- 1964 Sherlock Holmes ( 1 episode )
- 1950 Robert Montgomery Presents ( 1 episode ) as Sir Simon de Canterville
- 1960 Citizen James ( 1 episode ) as Himself
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as A newspaper publisher
