John Shrapnel
Acting
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.
Media of
John Shrapnel
Photos (21)
Filmography of
John Shrapnel
... 2022
Archbishop of Canterbury
... 2017
Narrator (Voice)
... 2017
Narrator - (Voice)
... 2016
... 2015
Claudius/Ghost
... 2015
... 2014
... 2014
Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man
... 2013
St. Peter
... 2013
Reverend Hugh Purslow
... 2011
Théramène
... 2009
Father
... 2009
General Grey
... 2008
Lorenzo Sapelli
... 2008
Crowley
... 2008
Himself (Narrator)
... 2007
Lord Howard
... 2007
Billy Palmer
... 2007
Michael Kuhn
... 2006
Narrator (English Version)
... 2005
Archbishop
... 2005
Narrator
... 2004
Nestor
... 2004
Narrator
... 2004
Narrator
... 2004
Narrator
... 2003
Narrator
... 2003
Narrator (English Version)
... 2002
Paul
... 2002
Admiral Bratyeev
... 2002
Lex Vandenberg
... 2002
Hannah
... 2002
Monty Sinclair
... 2001
Narrator
... 2001
Narrator
... 2001
Moshe Cohen
... 2001
Narrator
... 2000
Gaius
... 2000
Simon
... 1999
PR Chief
... 1999
General Charette
... 1999
Iwaszkiewicz
... 1999
Narrator (voice)
... 1998
Narrator (English voice)
... 1997
Skinner
... 1996
Cinca
... 1996
... 1995
Samuel Pepys
... 1995
General Globus
... 1994
Gerd Schulte-Hillen
... 1993
Claudius/Ghost
... 1992
... 1992
BKA Police Chief
... 1990
Psychiatrist
... 1989
Andre Zhdanov
... 1988
General Flood
... 1987
Lionel
... 1987
Creon
... 1986
... 1986
... 1986
Rev. Charles Tucker Eland
... 1985
George Sims
... 1985
Earl of Kent
... 1982
Hector
... 1981
Alcibiades
... 1981
... 1980
Vincent Craig
... 1980
Matthias Erzberger
... 1979
Maj. Alexander Hardinge
... 1978
Robert
... 1978
Gaudian
... 1977
McKendrick
... 1977
Leonard Brazil (voice)
... 1976
Tipaldi
... 1975
Duke of Cornwall
... 1975
Father James
... 1972
Petya
... 1971
Wally Zuckerman
... 1969
Jamie
... 1969
Claudius