John Shrapnel
Biography
(Born 27 April 1942) is an English actor. Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and Norman Shrapnel. As a stage actor, he was a member of Sir Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. 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, 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.
The Body
Moshe Cohen
Alone
Hannah
King Lear
Earl of Kent
Sparkle
Bernie
Hamlet, The Film
Claidius / Ghost
Claim
Lex Vandenberg
Hamlet
Claudius / Ghost
Young Catherine
Archimandrite Todorsky
Hamlet Revenant
Narrator
Hamlet Revenant
King Charles III
Archbishop of Canterbury
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Camilo
Hamlet, The Film
Claidius / Ghost
Hamlet
Claudius / Ghost
Building Burma's Death Railway: Moving Half the Mountain
Self - Narrator
Macbeth
Duncan, King of Scotland/Seyton, attendant to Macbeth/Old Man
The Awakening
Reverend Hugh Purslow
Phèdre - National Theatre Live
Théramène
The Duchess
General Grey
Mirrors
Lorenzo Sapelli
ChromeSkull: Laid To Rest 2
Crowley
Crowley
Aleister Crowley (original)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Lord Howard
Sparkle
Bernie
Alien Autopsy
Michael Kuhn
Shadow of the Sword
Archbishop
Troy
Nestor
Paul
K-19: The Widowmaker
Admiral Bratyeev
Claim
Lex Vandenberg
Alone
Hannah
Empires: Egypt's Golden Empire
(3 episodes, 2001)
Riders of the Storm
Narrator
Narrator
The Body
Moshe Cohen
Gladiator
Gaius
Mary, Mother of Jesus
Simon
Notting Hill
PR Chief
Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War
General Charette
Invasion Earth - The World War Has Begun
Air Marshal Bentley (2 episodes, 1998)
Midsomer Murders - Death's Shadow
Max Jennings
101 Dalmatians
Skinner
Two Deaths
Cinca
Fatherland
SS-Obergruppenführer Odilo 'Globus' Globocnik
Young Catherine
Archimandrite Todorsky
G.B.H.
Dr Jacobs (3 episodes, 1991)
How to Get Ahead In Advertising
Psychiatrist
Testimony: The Story of Shostakovich
Andre Zhdanov
Personal Services
Lionel
Creon
Creon
Creon
King Lear
Earl of Kent
Hector
Alcibiades
Private Schulz
German newsreel commentator / ... (3 episodes, 1981)
Edward & Mrs. Simpson
Major Alexander Hardinge (5 episodes, 1978)
Hennessy
Tipaldi
Pope Joan
Father James
Elizabeth R
Earl of Sussex (3 episodes, 1971)
Nicholas and Alexandra
Petya
