Geoffrey Palmer

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 197679 Ben Parkinson in Butterflies 19781983 and Lionel Hardcastle in As Time Goes By 19922005 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 Palmers 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 Osbornes 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 Priestleys 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 brotherinlaw of Reggie Perrin in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 197679 and the phlegmatic dentist Ben Parkinson in Butterflies 19781983 In 1978 Palmer appeared as organized crimelord Simon Sinclair in London Weekend Televisions hardhitting 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 Fawltys 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 19922005 In 1997 he also appeared with Dench in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in which he portrayed Admiral Roebuck to Denchs M and Mrs Brown playing Sir Henry Ponsonby to Denchs 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