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.
as Head Geographer
as Narrator
as Charles Burnell
as Lord Chief Justice(1 ep)
as Man on Toilet
as Narrator
as Dr. Clarence
as Stanley Baldwin
as Self / Dr Price
as Joubert
as Sir John Crowder
as Lord Scarman(1 ep)
as Captain Hardaker
as Self(1 ep)
as Narrator (voice)
as Self(1 ep)
as Corbett's Ghost
as Narrator
as Bayliss
as Sir Marmaduke Rowley(3 eps)
as Minnit
as Sir Edward Quiller Couch
as Narrator(2 eps)
as Narrator(14 eps)
as Thackeray(3 eps)
as Robert(6 eps)
as Jimmy Anderson (archive footage)
as Donald(6 eps)
as Narrator (voice)(5 eps)
as The Doctor
as Lord John Bradley
as White King
as Narrator / Santa
as Robert Crane
as His Butler's Voice
as Admiral Roebuck
as Henry Ponsonby
as Jimmy Anderson(7 eps)
as The Ruler(1 ep)
as Warren
as The Kommandant
as Lionel Hardcastle(67 eps)
as Donleavy
as Sir Horace Wimbol
as Donleavy(1 ep)
as Vice Admiral Hamling(1 ep)
as Mr Burton(2 eps)
as SAAB Salesman
as Judge
as Matthew Copley-Barnes(1 ep)
as Bernard
as Donald Fairchild(7 eps)
as Headmaster
as The Angry Doctor
as Harold Stringer(6 eps)
as Fallast
as Glyn Bryce
as Glyn Bryce(1 ep)
as Ronald Brewster-Wright
as Fred(1 ep)
as Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott(13 eps)
as Robert Lancaster
as Narrator(1 ep)
as Jimmy Anderson
as British Ambassador
as Field Marshal Haig(1 ep)
as Edwin Lorrimer(2 eps)
as Edwin Lorrimer(3 eps)
as Jimmy Anderson, Ben Parkinson
as Eric
as Foreign Secretary(4 eps)
as Various(1 ep)
as Psychiastrist
as Quince
as Nigel Carter(1 ep)
as Alec Boot(1 ep)
as Narrator
as Col. Wyndham
as Ben Parkinson(28 eps)
as Arnold Sparrow(1 ep)
as Self(1 ep)
as Avery(1 ep)
as Simon Sinclair(1 ep)
as Wilfred(3 eps)
as Jimmy Anderson(7 eps)
as Malcolm Frear(4 eps)
as Graviter
as Det. Chief Insp. Harris
as First Policeman
as Dr. Price(1 ep)
as Lawrence Rutherford(3 eps)
as Dennis(1 ep)
as Jack
as Commander Watson(1 ep)
as Samuel Partridge(1 ep)
as Mr Critchley(1 ep)
as Bob Holsgrove(1 ep)
as Ashe(1 ep)
as Examination Doctor/Basil Keyes
as Richard Nicholls
as Doc(2 eps)
as Kenneth Eden(3 eps)
as Head of Faculty(1 ep)
as Administrator
as Mr. Nicholas(1 ep)
as Chief Superintendent
as Jack Mervyn
as School Headmaster(1 ep)
as Detetective Chief Inspector Harris(1 ep)
as Jack Buckett(1 ep)
as Major Ryder(1 ep)
as Hugh Stafford(7 eps)
as Man at the Clinic
as Masters
as Major Sims(2 eps)
as Gosford
as Mac(1 ep)
as Professor Wybrow
as Self – Guest(1 ep)
as Asst. Chief Constable Rogers(2 eps)
as Robins(1 ep)
as Harper(1 ep)
as Oscar(1 ep)
as Bradley Fawcett(1 ep)
as Man at the clinic(1 ep)
as Eric(1 ep)
as Doctor Clay Morrow(1 ep)
as Oliver Cromwell(2 eps)
as Bill Mitchell(1 ep)
as Property Agent
as Turner(1 ep)
as Monteith(1 ep)
as Professor Wybrow(1 ep)
as Chief Officer
as Jack Mervyn(3 eps)
as Chief Officer / Gosford / Jack Mervyn(11 eps)
as Jeremy Martin(2 eps)
as Ian McWatt(1 ep)
as Jack Poncey(1 ep)
as Jeff Grant(1 ep)
as Property Agent(2 eps)
as Chief Superintendent Smeed(1 ep)
as Police Officer (uncredited)
as Administrator(1 ep)
as Masters(3 eps)
as Basil Mallard
as Williams(1 ep)
as Dr. Tanfield
as Cpl. Myers
as Pete Ferguson(1 ep)
as Newspaper Reporter(1 ep)
as Hugh Cowley(24 eps)
as Basil Mallard(1 ep)
as Dr. Terence(1 ep)
as Paul Manning(1 ep)
as Martin Smythe(1 ep)
as Floor manager(1 ep)
as Const. Swift(4 eps)
as Det. Sgt. Walsh(1 ep)
as Rankin(1 ep)
