Geoffrey Palmer
Acting
Biography
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (4 June 1927 - 5 November 2020) was an English actor known for his roles in British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983) and Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1992–2005). His film appearances include A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Madness of King George (1994), Mrs. Brown (1997), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in North Finchley, Middlesex. He was the son of Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor, and Norah Gwendolen (née Robins). He attended Highgate School from September 1939 to December 1945. He served as a corporal instructor in small arms and field training in the Royal Marines during his national service from 1946 to 1948, following which he briefly worked as an unpaid trainee assistant stage manager. Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of The Army Game (Granada Television), two episodes of The Baron and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home (1966). After a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he acted in major productions at the Royal Court and for the National Theatre Company and was directed by Laurence Olivier in J. B. Priestley's Eden End. Palmer found the play so dull, however, that he was deterred from a stage career. Two BBC sitcom roles brought him attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983). In 1978, Palmer appeared as organized crimelord Simon Sinclair in London Weekend Television's hard-hitting police drama The Professionals, the episode entitled "Where the Jungle Ends". Palmer played Doctor Price in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979), determined to have breakfast amidst the confusion caused by the death of a guest and Fawlty's inept way of handling the emergency. In 1986, Palmer appeared as Donald Fairchild in the first series of an ITV sitcom, Executive Stress, alongside Penelope Keith. He later left, and was replaced by Peter Bowles. Palmer later starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in another BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By (1992–2005). In 1997, he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck to Dench's M, and Mrs Brown, playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Dench's Queen Victoria. Palmer married Sally Green in 1963. They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director. Palmer was a longtime resident of Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time. At the time of his death, he resided in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Palmer died peacefully at his home on 5 November 2020, aged 93.
Born: June 4, 1927
Place of Birth: Finchley, Middlesex, England, UK
Known For
Filmography
as Head Geographer
as Charles Burnell
as Lord Chief Justice
as Man on Toilet
as Narrator
as Dr. Clarence
as Stanley Baldwin
as Self / Dr Price
as Joubert
as Sir John Crowder
as Lord Scarman
as Captain Hardaker
as Self
as Bayliss
as Sir Marmaduke Rowley
as Minnit
as Sir Edward Quiller Couch
as Narrator
as Thackeray
as Robert
as Donald
as Narrator (voice)
as The Doctor
as Lord John Bradley
as White King
as Narrator / Santa
as Robert Crane
as His Butler's Voice
as Admiral Roebuck
as Henry Ponsonby
as Warren
as The Kommandant
as Lionel Hardcastle
as Donleavy
as Sir Horace Wimbol
as Vice Admiral Hamling
as Mr. Burton
as SAAB Salesman
as Judge
as Matthew Copley-Barnes
as Bernard
as Headmaster
as The Angry Doctor
as Fallast
as Glyn Bryce
as Ronald Brewster-Wright
as Fred
as Narrator
as Jimmy Anderson
as British Ambassador
as Field Marshal Haig
as Edwin Lorrimer
as Jimmy Anderson, Ben Parkinson
as Foreign Secretary
as Various
as Psychiastrist
as Quince
as Nigel Carter
as Narrator
as Col. Wyndham
as Ben Parkinson
as Arnold Sparrow
as Self
as Avery
as Simon Sinclair
as Jimmy Anderson
as Malcolm Frear
as Det. Chief Insp. Harris
as First Policeman
as Dr. Price
as Jack
as Commander Watson
as Examination Doctor/Basil Keyes
as Richard Nicholls
as Doc
as Kenneth Eden
as Head of Faculty
as Administrator
as Chief Superintendent
as School Headmaster
as Detetective Chief Inspector Harris
as Jack Buckett
as Masters
as Major Sims
as Asst. Chief Constable Rogers
as Oliver Cromwell
as Bill Mitchell
as Property Agent
as Monteith
as Chief Officer
as Jeremy Martin
as Ian McWatt
as Jack Poncey
as Jeff Grant
as Property Agent
as Police Officer (uncredited)
as Administrator
as Masters
as Basil Mallard
as Williams
as Dr. Tanfield
as Cpl. Myers
as Pete Ferguson
as Paul Manning
as Martin Smythe
as Const. Swift