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