Person Details

Birthday:

Aliases: Geoffrey Dyson Palmer

Gender: Male

Place of birth: Finchley, Middlesex, England, UK

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 37

TV Involvements: 36


Most Famous Work

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

Most Famous Work

Natural World
Average
7

Natural World

(1983) Narrator
Agatha Christie's Poirot
Average
8

Agatha Christie's Poirot

(1989) Vice Admiral Hamling
Doctor Who
Average
8

Doctor Who

(1963) Administrator
Doctor Who
Average
8

Doctor Who

(2005) Captain Hardaker
Van der Valk
Average
6

Van der Valk

(1972) Head of Faculty
The Wednesday Play
Average
5

The Wednesday Play

(1964) Property Agent
Out of the Unknown
Average
7

Out of the Unknown

(1965) Chief Officer
Play for Today
Average
6

Play for Today

(1970) Jack Buckett

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
2021 N/A
2014 Head Geographer
2013 Narrator
2012 Charles Burnell
Lord Chief Justice
Man on Toilet
Narrator
2011 Dr. Clarence
Stanley Baldwin
2009 Self / Dr Price
Joubert
2008 N/A
Sir John Crowder
Lord Scarman
2007 Captain Hardaker
Self
2006 Self
2005 Corbett's Ghost
Narrator
Captain Hardaker
2004 Bayliss
Sir Marmaduke Rowley
2003 Minnit
Sir Edward Quiller Couch
N/A
Narrator
2002 N/A
Robert
2001 Donald
The Doctor
Narrator (voice)
1999 Lord John Bradley
1998 White King
Santa
Robert Crane
His Butler's Voice
1997 Admiral Roebuck
Henry Ponsonby
1996 N/A
1995 N/A
The Ruler
1994 Warren
1993 The Kommandant
1992 Lionel Hardcastle
1991 Donleavy
Sir Horace Wimbol
1989 Vice Admiral Hamling
1988 Mr. Burton
SAAB Salesman
Judge
1987 Matthew Copley-Barnes
1986 Bernard
N/A
Headmaster
The Angry Doctor
N/A
1985 Ronald Brewster-Wright
Fallast
Narrator
1984 Fred
Major Harry Truscott
1983 Narrator
British Ambassador
Field Marshal Haig
Edwin Lorrimer
1982 Eric
N/A
Various
Self
Psychiastrist
1981 Quince
N/A
Nigel Carter
1980 Col. Wyndham
Narrator
1978 N/A
Ben Parkinson
Self
1977 Simon Sinclair
Avery
1976 Jimmy Anderson
Malcolm Frear
Graviter
Det. Chief Insp. Harris
First Policeman
1975 Dr. Price
N/A
Sir Edward Clarke
Jack
Commander Watson
1973 Examination Doctor/Basil Keyes
Richard Nicholls
1972 Doc
Kenneth Eden
Head of Faculty
Administrator
1971 Chief Superintendent
1970 N/A
School Headmaster
N/A
Detetective Chief Inspector Harris
Jack Buckett
Man at the Clinic
Masters
Major Sims
1968 Asst. Chief Constable Rogers
1967 Bill Mitchell
1966 Property Agent
N/A
N/A
1965 Chief Officer
Chief Officer
Jeremy Martin
Ian McWatt
N/A
Jeff Grant
1964 Property Agent
Police Officer (uncredited)
1963 Masters
Administrator
Williams
1962 Cpl. Myers
Pete Ferguson
N/A
1961 N/A
Paul Manning
1959 N/A
1957 N/A
N/A
Year Character Movie/Tv

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