(27 April 1942 - 14 February 2020)
The British actor John Shrapnel, who has died aged 77 from cancer, was a familiar face on television although he was also a stage actor throughout his career and appeared in many high-profile films. Born in Birmingham to Norman Shrapnel and his wife Mary, he was brought up in a literary household as his father was a Guardian reporter, reviewer and theatre critic who also wrote books on politics. Moving south, John was educated at the City of London School and Cambridge. Early stage productions included Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, the latter his professional debut. Later he worked at the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Young Vic and the Barbican Theatre. On television (from 1967) he was in the Elizabeth R series (with Glenda Jackson) playing the Earl of Sussex, as well as various Shakespeare adaptations. He often played men of substance, military types or out-of-the-ordinary professionals. His first feature film was Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), then he played Father James in Pope Joan with Liv Ullmann. Other films included Hennessy starring Rod Steiger, Personal Services with Julie Walters, Partition, set in India at the time of independence in 1947, Tony Palmer’s Testimony with Ben Kingsley as Shostakovich, Bruce Robinson’s How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Nicolas Roeg’s Two Deaths and Stephen Herek’s 101 Dalmatians with Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. He was a PR Chief in Notting Hill with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts, Gaius in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, played an Admiral in Kathryn Bigelow’s K-19: The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford, was Nestor in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy, played Lord Howard in Elizabeth: The Golden Age with Cate Blanchett, was General Grey in The Duchess with Keira Knightley, played a Reverend Father in The Awakening with Rebecca Hall, appeared with Ant & Dec in Alien Autopsy and was Claudius and the Ghost to Maxine Peake’s Hamlet. John Shrapnel’s last film was the TV version of Mike Bartlett’s play King Charles III in 2017. He was married to the landscape gardener Francesca Bartley, daughter of Deborah Kerr, and they have three sons, writer Joe, director Tom and actor Lex, the latter appearing with his father at the Young Vic in Caryl Churchill’s A Number.
MICHAEL DARVELL
