John Shrapnel

John Morley Shrapnel (27 April 1942 – 14 February 2020) was an English actor. He is known mainly for his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and for his many television appearances. One of his well-known roles was Mr Skinner in the 1996 live-action film 101 Dalmatians.

Shrapnel was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, Warwickshire (now West Midlands), on 27 April 1942, the son of journalist and author Norman Shrapnel and Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards).

Shrapnel was brought up in Stockport and London and was educated first at Mile End School, Stockport, where he started acting as a member of the school's drama society, and then at the City of London School, an independent school for boys in the City of London, where he played Hamlet in the school play; he then attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, from which he received an MA degree.

Shrapnel began acting professionally on stage in 1965. He was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011. His final stage appearance was in 2015.

Shrapnel also appeared extensively on television from the 1960s onwards. He played the Earl of Sussex in Elizabeth R and Alexander Hardinge in Edward & Mrs. Simpson. He appeared in Z-Cars, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, GBH, Coogan's Run, Foyle's War and many other dramas. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He performed in three of the BBC Television Shakespeare plays and as Creon in the BBC's productions of the Three Theban plays (1986) of Sophocles. He also played Pompey in the second episode of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire and the Jail Warden in The 10th Kingdom.

His film career included roles in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Pope Joan (1972), Hennessy (1975), Personal Services (1987), Testimony (1988), How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), England, My England (1995), 101 Dalmatians (1996) as Mr Skinner, Notting Hill (1999), The Body (2001), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) and Alien Autopsy (2006). He also appeared in historical films such as Gladiator (2000) as Senator Gaius and in Troy (2004) as Nestor. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) he played Lord Howard and The Duchess (2008) as General Grey.

Shrapnel had the rare distinction of appearing in two episodes of Midsomer Murders as two characters in "Death in Chorus" and "Written in Blood". He appeared in Jonathan Creek episode "The Omega Man" as Professor Lance Graumann. He appeared in Chemical Wedding alongside Simon Callow, telling the tale of the resurrection of occultist Aleister Crowley. He played John Christie (from a 1980s case) in "Solidarity" of Waking the Dead.

He also had experience in the field of BBC radio drama: he played Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse (opposite Robert Glenister as Sgt Lewis) and starred in William Gibson's Neuromancer. Shrapnel played the character Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Felsham in the New Tricks episode The Fourth Man (2010). He also narrated episodes of Wild Discovery.

Shrapnel's final role was as the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 2017 television film King Charles III.

In 1975, Shrapnel married Francesca Ann Bartley, the younger daughter of Deborah Kerr and Tony Bartley. He and Francesca had three sons: the writer Joe Shrapnel (b. 1976), and the actors Lex Shrapnel (b. 1979) and Tom Shrapnel (b. 1981). His ancestor Henry Shrapnel gave the word shrapnel to the English language.

Shrapnel and his wife divided their time between residences in Highbury, London, and Wattisfield, Suffolk. He died from prostate cancer at his home in Suffolk on 14 February 2020, at the age of 77.