1927-06-04 ( 97 years old ) in Finchley, Middlesex, England, UK
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (4 June 1927 - 5 November 2020) was an English actor known for his roles in British television sitcoms playing Jimmy Anderson in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983) and Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1992–2005). His film appearances include A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Madness of King George (1994), Mrs. Brown (1997), and Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
Geoffrey Dyson Palmer was born on 4 June 1927 in North Finchley, Middlesex. He was the son of Frederick Charles Palmer, who was a chartered surveyor, and Norah Gwendolen (née Robins). He attended Highgate School from September 1939 to December 1945. He served as a corporal instructor in small arms and field training in the Royal Marines during his national service from 1946 to 1948, following which he briefly worked as an unpaid trainee assistant stage manager.
Palmer's early television appearances included multiple roles in episodes of The Army Game (Granada Television), two episodes of The Baron and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home (1966). After a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he acted in major productions at the Royal Court and for the National Theatre Company and was directed by Laurence Olivier in J. B. Priestley's Eden End. Palmer found the play so dull, however, that he was deterred from a stage career.
Two BBC sitcom roles brought him attention in the 1970s: the hapless brother-in-law of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976–79), and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in Butterflies (1978–1983).
In 1978, Palmer appeared as organized crimelord Simon Sinclair in London Weekend Television's hard-hitting police drama The Professionals, the episode entitled "Where the Jungle Ends".
Palmer played Doctor Price in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Kipper and the Corpse" (1979), determined to have breakfast amidst the confusion caused by the death of a guest and Fawlty's inept way of handling the emergency. In 1986, Palmer appeared as Donald Fairchild in the first series of an ITV sitcom, Executive Stress, alongside Penelope Keith. He later left, and was replaced by Peter Bowles.
Palmer later starred opposite Judi Dench for over a decade in another BBC sitcom, As Time Goes By (1992–2005). In 1997, he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck to Dench's M, and Mrs Brown, playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Dench's Queen Victoria.
Palmer married Sally Green in 1963. They had a daughter, Harriet, and a son, Charles, a television director. Palmer was a longtime resident of Lee Common in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, and enjoyed fly fishing in his spare time. At the time of his death, he resided in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.
Palmer died peacefully at his home on 5 November 2020, aged 93
Movies
To Olivia
2021-02-19
Paddington
2014-11-24
Walrus: Two Tonne Tusker
2013-10-01
Bert & Dickie
2012-07-25
Run For Your Wife
2012-05-16
Queen Victoria's Last Love: Abdul Karim
2012-04-25
Lost Christmas
2011-12-11
W.E.
2011-09-01
Fawlty Towers: Re-Opened
2009-05-10
The Pink Panther 2
2009-02-06
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley
2008-06-12
Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned
2007-12-25
The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag
2005-12-02
Pope John Paul II: 1920 - 2005
2005-04-19
Piccadilly Jim
2004-11-01
The Young Visiters
2003-12-26
Peter Pan
2003-12-18
Rat
2000-10-06
Anna and the King
1999-12-16
Alice Through the Looking Glass
1998-12-26
Mr. Men & Little Miss: The Christmas Letter
1998-12-07
Reckless: The Sequel
1998-10-11
Stiff Upper Lips
1998-06-12
Tomorrow Never Dies
1997-12-11
Mrs Brown
1997-07-18
The Madness of King George
1994-12-28
Stalag Luft
1993-10-27
A Question of Attribution
1991-10-20
Smack and Thistle
1991-04-20
Hawks
1988-08-05
A Fish Called Wanda
1988-07-15
Season's Greetings
1986-12-24
Clockwise
1986-03-01
The Insurance Man
1986-02-22
A Zed & Two Noughts
1985-10-04
Absurd Person Singular
1985-01-01
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
1983-10-03
The Honorary Consul
1983-09-30
The Houseboy
1982-07-03
Mr. Kershaw's Dream System
1982-01-01
A Midsummer Night's Dream
1981-12-13
Safe at Work?
1980-01-01
The Outsider
1979-11-26
Loyalties
1976-02-29
A Story to Frighten the Children
1976-02-03
The Battle of Billy's Pond
1976-01-01
Goodbye
1975-03-06
O Lucky Man!
1973-03-25
Only Make Believe
1973-02-12
Doctor Who: The Mutants
1972-05-13
Michael Regan
1971-11-18
The High Game
1970-08-03
Doctor Who and the Silurians
1970-03-14
Cathy Come Home
1966-11-16
No Place Like Earth
1965-10-04
Ring of Spies
1964-03-23
A Prize of Arms
1962-12-11
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