Geoffrey Palmer
Acting
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.
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as White King
Age 71 (now 93)
Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned
as Captain Hardaker
Age 80 (now 93)
Inside Rooms: 26 Bathrooms, London & Oxfordshire
as Narrator
Age 57 (now 93)
Queen Victoria's Last Love: Abdul Karim
as Narrator
Age 84 (now 93)
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley
as Sir John Crowder
Age 81 (now 93) Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned
as Captain Hardaker
Age 80 (now 93)
The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
as Corbett's Ghost
Age 78 (now 93)Pope John Paul II: 1920 - 2005
as Narrator
Age 77 (now 93)The Funny Blokes of British Comedy
as Self
Age 77 (now 93)
Alice Through the Looking Glass
as White King
Age 71 (now 93)
Mr. Men & Little Miss: The Christmas Letter
as Narrator / Santa
Age 71 (now 93)
Inside Rooms: 26 Bathrooms, London & Oxfordshire
as Narrator
Age 57 (now 93)
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
as Jimmy Anderson
Age 56 (now 93)
The Funny Side of Christmas
as Jimmy Anderson, Ben Parkinson
Age 55 (now 93)
A Story to Frighten the Children
as Det. Chief Insp. Harris
Age 48 (now 93)
Agatha Christie's Poirot
as Vice Admiral Hamling
Age 61 (now 93)
The Kenny Everett Television Show
as Various
Age 54 (now 93)
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
as Jimmy Anderson
Age 49 (now 93)
The Further Adventures of the Musketeers
as Oliver Cromwell
Age 39 (now 93)
The Strange World of Gurney Slade
as Floor manager
Age 33 (now 93)
Gathering insights...
Also Known As
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer
IMDB
nm0658244