Name
John Shrapnel
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1942-04-27
Deathday
2020-02-14 (78 years old)
Place of Birth
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
7.263
London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encoun...
5.947
An evil, high-fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies in order to make an extrav...
6.706
When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invad...
6.389
In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting...
6.978
A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who w...
- 2000 Gladiator as Gaius
- 1999 Notting Hill as PR Chief
- 2004 Troy as Nestor
- 2002 K-19: The Widowmaker as Admiral Bratyeev
- 2006 Alien Autopsy as Michael Kuhn
- 2001 The Body as Moshe Cohen
- 2022 Hamlet Within
- 2002 Alone as Hannah
- 1989 How to Get Ahead in Advertising as Psychiatrist
- 2008 Chemical Wedding as Crowley
- 1999 Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters as General Charette
- 2002 Claim as Lex Vandenberg
- 1997 St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral as Narrator (English voice)
- 2005 Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic as Narrator (English Version)
- 2002 Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty as Narrator (English Version)
- 2003 Wild Women of Viramba as Narrator
- 1976 Hitting Town as Leonard Brazil (voice)
- 2011 The Awakening as Reverend Hugh Purslow
- 2014 OXI, an Act of Resistance as Creon
- 2009 An Organization of Dreams as Father
- 1969 The Ha-Ha as Jamie
- 2013 National Theatre Live: Macbeth as Duncan/Seyton/Old Man
- 2001 Animals of the Ocean Desert as Narrator
- 1987 Partition as General Flood
- 1993 Selling Hitler as Gerd Schulte-Hillen
- 1987 Personal Services as Lionel
- 2005 Shadow of the Sword as Archbishop
- 2017 Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story as Narrator (Voice)
- 1980 The Tom Machine
- 1977 Professional Foul as McKendrick
- 1990 The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story as BKA Police Chief
- 2015 Hamlet as Claudius/Ghost
- 2016 The Return of the Flying Scotsman as Narrator - (Voice)
- 1994 Fatherland as General Globus
- 1979 Gossip from the Forest as Matthias Erzberger
- 2004 Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt as Narrator
- 1981 Timon of Athens as Alcibiades
- 1977 The Three Hostages as Gaudian
- 2007 Elizabeth: The Golden Age as Lord Howard
- 1975 Hennessy as Tipaldi
- 1995 England, My England as Samuel Pepys
- 2015 Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale as Camilo
- 2000 Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes as Narrator
- 2007 Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies as Himself (Narrator)
- 2017 King Charles III as Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1981 Troilus & Cressida as Hector
- 1996 Two Deaths as Cinca
- 1988 Testimony as Andre Zhdanov
- 2008 The Duchess as General Grey
- 1996 101 Dalmatians as Skinner
- 1986 Theban Plays: Oedipus the King as Creon
- 1986 Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus as Creon
- 1986 Theban Plays: Antigone as Creon
- 2008 Mirrors as Lorenzo Sapelli
- 1971 Nicholas and Alexandra as Petya
- 1982 King Lear as Earl of Kent
- 2002 Whistle as Paul
- 1985 Poppyland as George Sims
- 1978 Edward & Mrs. Simpson as Maj. Alexander Hardinge
- 1995 King Arthur: His Life and Legends
- 2004 Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome as Narrator
- 2004 Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece as Narrator
- 1972 Pope Joan as Father James
- 2009 National Theatre Live: Phèdre as Théramène
- 1999 Mary, Mother of Jesus as Simon
- 2001 Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 as Narrator
- 2003 The Race for Everest as Narrator
- 1985 The Burston Rebellion as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
- 1999 The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka as Iwaszkiewicz
- 2014 Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain as Narrator
- 1992 SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich as Narrator
- 1978 Flayed as Robert
- 2001 The Gentleman Thief as Monty Sinclair
- 1975 King Lear as Duke of Cornwall
- 2013 Run. as St. Peter
- 1992 Hamlet as Claudius
- 1980 The Victim as Vincent Craig
- 1969 It's Called the Sugar Plum as Wally Zuckerman
- 2007 Once Upon a Time on the Westway as Billy Palmer
- 1998 Lion Queen as Narrator (voice)
- 2000 Lost on Everest: The Search for Mallory and Irvine as Self - Narrator
- 2001 The Misfit and the Matterhorn as Narrator
- 1998 Solo Shuttle as Cain
- 2004 I Am Not an Animal ( 6 episodes ) as Narrator (voice)
- 1971 Elizabeth R ( 3 episodes ) as Earl of Sussex
- 2008 Apparitions ( 6 episodes ) as Cardinal Bukovak
- 1978 Edward and Mrs Simpson ( 5 episodes ) as Major Alexander Hardinge
- 1997 Bodyguards ( 7 episodes ) as Commander Alan MacIntyre
- 1983 Natural World ( 10 episodes ) as Narrator
- 1997 Predators Killing for a Living ( 13 episodes )
- 1992 Between the Lines ( 13 episodes ) as Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dunning
- 2004 New Tricks ( 1 episode ) as DAC John Felsham
- 2001 Waking the Dead ( 2 episodes ) as John Christie
- 1989 About Face ( 1 episode )
- 1991 G.B.H. ( 3 episodes ) as Dr Jacobs
- 1997 Jonathan Creek ( 1 episode ) as Prof. Lance Graumann
- 1995 Kavanagh Q.C. ( 1 episode ) as Mr. Justice Griffin
- 1997 Midsomer Murders ( 1 episode ) as Max Jennings
- 2002 The Inspector Lynley Mysteries ( 1 episode ) as Sergent Mike McCaffrey
- 1971 Justice ( 1 episode ) as Roger Anderson
- 2000 The 10th Kingdom ( 5 episodes ) as Governor of Prison
- 1998 Invasion: Earth ( 6 episodes ) as Air Marshal Bentley
- 1990 Centrepoint ( 4 episodes ) as Claud Wareing
- 1982 The Woman in White ( 5 episodes ) as Sir Percival Glyde
- 1992 Between the Lines ( 1 episode ) as D.C.C. Dunning
- 1994 Wycliffe ( 1 episode ) as Dr. Sam Malvern
- 1975 Space: 1999 ( 1 episode ) as Jack Tanner
- 1997 Midsomer Murders ( 1 episode ) as Leo Clarke
- 1992 Shakespeare: The Animated Tales ( 1 episode ) as Claudius / The Ghost (voice)
- 1978 Armchair Thriller ( 4 episodes ) as Vincent Craig
- 1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers ( 1 episode ) as Thomas Mann
- 2008 Merlin ( 1 episode ) as The Sarrum
- 2017 The Lions Rule ( 3 episodes ) as Narrator (voice)
- 1967 Omnibus ( 1 episode ) as Zborowski
- 2006 Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire ( 1 episode ) as Pompey
- 2002 Foyle's War ( 1 episode ) as Raymond Brooks
- 1997 True Tilda ( 6 episodes ) as Reverand Glasson
- 1965 BBC Play of the Month ( 1 episode ) as Duke of Cornwall
- 1965 BBC Play of the Month ( 1 episode ) as Viktor Myshlaevsky
- 1977 BBC2 Play of the Week ( 1 episode ) as McKendrick
- 1977 BBC2 Play of the Week ( 1 episode ) as Robert
- 1990 The Chief ( 1 episode ) as Dan Cheyney
- 1984 Mr. Palfrey of Westminster ( 1 episode ) as Adrian Vyner
- 1987 Vanity Fair ( 5 episodes ) as Lord Steyne
- 1981 Private Schulz ( 3 episodes ) as German Newsreel Commentator (voice, uncredited)
- 1985 Screen Two ( 1 episode ) as Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
- 1974 Good Girl ( 4 episodes ) as Christopher Wimple
- 1985 Screen Two ( 1 episode ) as Heiger
- 1991 For the Greater Good ( 2 episodes ) as Norman May-Boys MP
- 1989 Blackeyes ( 3 episodes ) as Detective Blake
- 1967 ITV Playhouse ( 1 episode ) as Schoner
- 1976 Plays for Britain ( 1 episode ) as Voice of Leonard Brazil
- 1991 Selling Hitler ( 1 episode ) as Gerd Schülte-Hillen
- 1995 Coogan's Run ( 1 episode ) as Douglas Crown
- 1979 Screenplay ( 1 episode ) as Matthias Erzberger
- 1984 Sorrell and Son ( 6 episodes ) as Thomas Roland
- 1996 Alien Empire ( 6 episodes ) as Narrator
