John Shrapnel
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1942-04-27
Place of Birth
Birmingham, England, UK
John Shrapnel
Biography
Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel.[1] As a stage actor, he was a member of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and most recently appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011. He has also appeared extensively in film and on television in roles in Elizabeth R, Z-Cars, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, 101 Dalmatians, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, Coogan's Run, Notting Hill and Foyle's War. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He gave performances in three entries in the BBC Television Shakespeare plays and as Creon in the BBC's 1984 productions of the Three Theban plays of Sophocles. In America, he has starred in supporting roles as Senator Gaius in Gladiator, Nestor in Troy and Pompey in the second episode of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire. He also played the Jail Warden in the 10th Kingdom, an epic fantasy miniseries. He has the rare achievement of appearing in two episodes of Midsomer Murders as two different characters, in Death in Chorus and Written in Blood. Shrapnel appeared in an episode of Jonathan Creek as Professor Lance Graumann in the episode The Omega Man. He appears in Chemical Wedding alongside Simon Callow, telling the tale of the resurrection of occultist Aleister Crowley. Shrapnel also has experience in the field of BBC radio drama through such characters as Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse and William Gibson's Neuromancer. He is the son-in-law of Deborah Kerr through his 1975 marriage to her younger daughter Francesca Ann Bartley. They have three sons, the actors Lex Shrapnel (b.1979), Tom Shrapnel (b.1981) and the writer Joe Shrapnel (b.1976). They live in Highbury, north London.
Also Known For
Gladiator
May 04, 2000
Notting Hill
May 21, 1999
Troy
May 13, 2004
K-19: The Widowmaker
Jul 19, 2002
Alien Autopsy
Apr 07, 2006
The Body
Apr 13, 2001
Hamlet Within
May 21, 2022
Alone
Apr 11, 2002
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
May 05, 1989
Chemical Wedding
May 04, 2008
Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters
Apr 02, 1999
Claim
Jul 16, 2002
St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral
Dec 23, 1997
Wachau - Valley of Golden Magic
Jun 08, 2005
Schönbrunn - Well of Beauty
Dec 19, 2002
Wild Women of Viramba
Jan 15, 2003
Hitting Town
Apr 26, 1976
The Awakening
Aug 17, 2011
OXI, an Act of Resistance
Oct 09, 2014
An Organization of Dreams
Jan 02, 2009
The Ha-Ha
Aug 25, 1969
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Jul 19, 2013
Animals of the Ocean Desert
Jun 21, 2001
Partition
Aug 19, 1987
Selling Hitler
Apr 20, 1993
Personal Services
Feb 12, 1987
Shadow of the Sword
May 12, 2005
Britain's Nuclear Bomb - The Inside Story
May 03, 2017
The Tom Machine
Nov 20, 1980
Professional Foul
Sep 21, 1977
The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story
Nov 26, 1990
Hamlet
Mar 23, 2015
The Return of the Flying Scotsman
Mar 06, 2016
Fatherland
Nov 26, 1994
Gossip from the Forest
Jul 28, 1979
Seven Wonders of Ancient Egypt
Feb 17, 2004
Timon of Athens
Apr 16, 1981
The Three Hostages
Dec 27, 1977
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Sep 09, 2007
Hennessy
Dec 31, 1975
England, My England
Jan 01, 1995
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Nov 30, 2015
Supermassive Black Holes
Nov 30, 2000
Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies
Sep 17, 2007
King Charles III
May 10, 2017
Troilus & Cressida
Nov 07, 1981
Two Deaths
Jun 14, 1996
Testimony
Nov 01, 1988
The Duchess
Sep 05, 2008
101 Dalmatians
Nov 27, 1996
Theban Plays: Oedipus the King
Sep 16, 1986
Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus
Sep 17, 1986
Theban Plays: Antigone
Sep 19, 1986
Mirrors
Aug 14, 2008
Nicholas and Alexandra
Nov 29, 1971
King Lear
Sep 19, 1982
Whistle
Aug 22, 2002
Poppyland
Jan 13, 1985
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
Nov 06, 1978
King Arthur: His Life and Legends
Sep 18, 1995
Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome
Jan 01, 2004
Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece
Jun 01, 2004
Pope Joan
Aug 16, 1972
National Theatre Live: Phèdre
Jun 25, 2009
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Nov 14, 1999
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2
May 31, 2001
The Race for Everest
May 27, 2003
The Burston Rebellion
Feb 24, 1985
The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka
Jan 01, 1999
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
Jan 01, 2014
SS-3: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Jan 01, 1992
Flayed
Feb 22, 1978
The Gentleman Thief
Jun 24, 2001
King Lear
Mar 23, 1975
Run.
Jan 01, 2013
Hamlet
The Victim
Jan 08, 1980
It's Called the Sugar Plum
Nov 01, 1969
Hamlet
Dec 07, 1992
Once Upon a Time on the Westway
May 03, 2007
Lion Queen
Jun 01, 1998
I Am Not an Animal
May 10, 2004
Elizabeth R
Feb 17, 1971
Apparitions
Nov 13, 2008
Edward and Mrs Simpson
Nov 08, 1978
Bodyguards
May 01, 1997
Natural World
Oct 30, 1983
Predators Killing for a Living
Sep 03, 1997
Between the Lines
Sep 04, 1992
New Tricks
Jan 01, 2004
Waking the Dead
Jun 18, 2001
About Face
Nov 06, 1989
G.B.H.
Jun 06, 1991
Jonathan Creek
May 09, 1997
Kavanagh Q.C.
Jan 03, 1995
Midsomer Murders
Mar 23, 1997
The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Apr 08, 2002
Justice
Oct 08, 1971
The 10th Kingdom
Feb 27, 2000
Invasion: Earth
May 08, 1998
Centrepoint
Oct 08, 1990
The Woman in White
Apr 14, 1982
Between the Lines
Sep 04, 1992
Wycliffe
Jul 24, 1994
Space: 1999
Sep 04, 1975
Midsomer Murders
Mar 23, 1997
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
Nov 09, 1992
Armchair Thriller
Feb 21, 1978
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
Jan 10, 1988
Merlin
Sep 20, 2008
The Lions Rule
Sep 20, 2017
Omnibus
Oct 13, 1967
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Sep 21, 2006
Foyle's War
Oct 27, 2002
True Tilda
Mar 16, 1997
BBC Play of the Month
Oct 19, 1965
BBC Play of the Month
Oct 19, 1965
BBC2 Play of the Week
Sep 21, 1977
BBC2 Play of the Week
Sep 21, 1977
The Chief
Apr 20, 1990
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
Apr 18, 1984
