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