Percy Herbert (actor)

Percy Herbert
220px Herbert in 1967.
Born	(1920-07-31)31 July 1920 London, England, UK
Died	Kent, England, UK
Cause of death	Heart attack
Occupation	actor
Years active	1951-87

Percy Herbert (31 July 1920 – 6 December 1992) was an English character actor who worked predominantly during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, becoming one of the most recognisable faces in post-war British cinema.

Biography

He served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during the Second World War and spent four years in the notorious Japanese prisoner of war camp Changi. After the war, he was helped by Dame Sybil Thorndike to secure an interview with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won a scholarship. His acting career began in the theatre, which included working at John Gielgud's Old Vic Company.

Beginning in the early 1950s, he went on to make nearly seventy films, often playing soldiers, most notably in The Cockleshell Heroes, The Bridge on the River Kwai (for which he also worked as consultant), Sea of Sand, Tunes of Glory, The Guns of Navarone, Guns at Batasi, Tobruk and The Wild Geese. However, he was equally at home in comedies (Barnacle Bill, Casino Royale, two Carry On films), fantasy (One Million Years B.C., Mysterious Island), and drama (Becket, Bunny Lake is Missing).

He also acted on television; he was a regular on the short-lived American series Cimarron Strip, during a brief foray to Hollywood. Other television work includes Danger Man, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, and Worzel Gummidge.

Herbert died of complications due to being a POW in Changi - 6 December 1992.

Partial filmography

• The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) - Marine Lomas
• A Hill in Korea (1956)
• The Steel Bayonet (1957)
• Night of the Demon (1957) - Farmer
• Quatermass 2 (1957) - Gorman
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Grogan
• Barnacle Bill (1957)
• The Safecracker (1958)
• Sea of Sand (1958) - 'Blanco' White
• Serious Charge (1959)
• Yesterday's Enemy (1959) - Wilson
• The Challenge (1960)
• There Was a Crooked Man (1960) - Prison Warden
• Tunes of Glory (1960) - RSM Riddick
• The Guns of Navarone (1961) - Grogan
• Mysterious Island (1961) - Sergeant Pencroft
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) - Seaman Matthew Quintal
• Call Me Bwana (1963) - First Henchman
• The Cracksman (1963) - Nosher
• Carry On Jack (1963) - Mister Angel, Bo'sum
• Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963)
• The Counterfeit Constable (1964) - L'agent Baxter
• Becket (1964) - Baron
• Guns at Batasi (1964) - Colour Sgt. Ben Parkin
• Joey Boy (1965) - Mad George Long
• Carry On Cowboy (1965) - Charlie
• Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) - Dolan
• One Million Years B.C. (1966) - Sakana
• Casino Royale (1967) - 1st Piper
• Tobruk (1967)
• The Viking Queen (1967) - Catus
• Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) - Casey
• Night of the Big Heat (1967) - Gerald Foster
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) - Diego
• One More Time (1970) - Mander
• Too Late the Hero (1970) - Sergeant Johnstone
• Captain Apache (1971) - Moon
• Man in the Wilderness (1971) - Fogarty
• The Fiend (1972) - Commissionaire
• Up the Front (1972) - Cpl. Lovechild
• Doomwatch (1972) - Hartwell
• The Mackintosh Man (1973) - Taafe
• Black Snake (1973) - Joker Tierney
• Craze (1974) - Detective Russet
• One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) - Mr. Gibbons
• Hardcore (1977) - Hurbert
• Valentino (1977) - Stuido Guard
• The Wild Geese (1978) - Keith
• The London Connection (1979) - Ship's Captain
• The Sea Wolves (1980) - Dennison
• The Love Child (1988)

External links

• Percy Herbert at the Internet Movie Database