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Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey Palmer

Actor · 1927 – 2020 · Finchley, Middlesex, England, UK

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.

Series24

  • TV7.9

    Doctor Who

    1963 · 722 votes

  • TV8.2

    Agatha Christie's Poirot

    1989 · 584 votes

  • TV4.4

    The One Show

    2006 · 31 votes

  • TV6.6

    Play for Today

    1970 · 10 votes

  • TV7.4

    The Saint

    1962 · 136 votes

  • TV5.2

    BBC Play of the Month

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV7.8

    The Avengers

    1961 · 156 votes

  • TV5.7

    Crown Court

    1972 · 6 votes

  • TV5.2

    The Wednesday Play

    1964 · 5 votes

  • TV7.0

    Bergerac

    1981 · 25 votes

  • TV7.4

    Natural World

    1983 · 31 votes

  • TV7.0

    ITV Playhouse

    1967 · 3 votes

  • TV7.9

    Inspector Morse

    1987 · 146 votes

  • TV5.3

    An Audience with...

    1978 · 3 votes

  • TV4.5
  • TV8.1

    The Sweeney

    1975 · 28 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Professionals

    1977 · 47 votes

  • TV4.8

    No Hiding Place

    1959 · 4 votes

  • TV7.0
  • TV8.0

    Blackadder

    1983 · 577 votes

  • TV4.3

    Thirty-Minute Theatre

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV4.5

    Angels

    1975 · 4 votes

  • TV7.3

    The Troubleshooters

    1965 · 3 votes

  • TV7.4

    The Hollow Crown

    2012 · 82 votes

Movies23

  • Movie6.4

    Tomorrow Never Dies

    1997 · 3.6K votes

  • Movie7.1

    Paddington

    2014 · 4.4K votes

  • Movie7.2

    A Fish Called Wanda

    1988 · 2.5K votes

  • Movie7.1

    Peter Pan

    2003 · 2.8K votes

  • Movie5.7

    The Pink Panther 2

    2009 · 1.3K votes

  • Movie6.8

    Anna and the King

    1999 · 840 votes

  • Movie6.3

    W.E.

    2011 · 312 votes

  • Movie6.8
  • Movie6.8

    Mrs Brown

    1997 · 192 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Clockwise

    1986 · 225 votes

  • Movie7.6
  • Movie5.2
  • Movie5.8

    The Honorary Consul

    1983 · 61 votes

  • Movie9.0

    The Uninvited

    1971 · 1 votes

  • Movie4.4

    Run For Your Wife

    2012 · 11 votes

  • Movie7.0

    A Zed & Two Noughts

    1985 · 183 votes

  • Movie6.8

    O Lucky Man!

    1973 · 121 votes

  • Movie6.9

    To Olivia

    2021 · 28 votes

  • Movie5.6

    Stiff Upper Lips

    1998 · 12 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Rat

    2000 · 27 votes

  • Movie6.5
  • Movie6.8

    Lost Christmas

    2011 · 42 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Bert & Dickie

    2012 · 5 votes