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{{short description|English actor (1903–1988)}} | |||
] from ].]] | |||
{{Use British English|date=February 2014}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}} | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
| name = Alan Napier | |||
| image = Alan Napier 1949.GIF | |||
| caption = Napier in 1949 | |||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1903|01|07}} | |||
| birth_place = ], ], England | |||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1988|08|08|1903|01|07}} | |||
| death_place = ], U.S. | |||
| resting_place = Cremated; ashes scattered in the garden of his home in ], California | |||
| education = ] | |||
| alma_mater = ] | |||
| birthname = Alan William Napier-Clavering | |||
| yearsactive = 1920s–1981 | |||
| spouse = {{plainlist| | |||
* {{marriage|Emily Nancy Bevill Pethybridge|1930|1944|end=divorced}} | |||
* {{marriage|Aileen Dickens Hawksley|1944|1961|end=died}} | |||
}} | |||
}} | |||
'''Alan Napier''' ( |
'''Alan William Napier-Clavering''' (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as '''Alan Napier''', was an English actor. After a decade in ], he had a long film career in Britain and later on in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying ], ] butler in the 1960s live-action '']'' ] series.<ref name=AP>{{cite news |title=Alan Napier, 'Batman's' butler, dies |newspaper=Ukiah Daily Journal |agency=] |date=8 August 1988 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1317513/alan_napiers_obituary/ |via = ]}} {{Open access}}</ref> | ||
==Early life and career== | |||
This cousin of ], Britain's prime minister from ] to ], was born '''Alan Napier-Clavering''' in ]. He was also the great-great grandson of author ]. He was stagestruck from childhood and after graduating from ], the tall 6 ft 7 in (201 cm), booming-voiced Napier studied at the ], then later was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with such raw young talent as Sir ] and ]. He continued working with the cream of Britain's acting crop during his ten years (1929-1939) on the West End stages. He came to ] in 1940 to co-star with ] in ''Lady in Waiting''. Though his film career had begun in England in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he arrived and joined the British community in ] in 1941. There he spent time with such people as ]. He usually played dignified, sometimes ]-ish roles of all sizes in such films as '']'' (1942), ''The Uninvited'' (1943), and ''House of Horror'' (1946). | |||
He was born Alan William Napier-Clavering on 7 January 1903 in Birmingham to Claude and Millicent ({{nee}} Kenrick) Napier-Clavering. He had two older siblings, Mark (born five years earlier) and Molly (born two and a half years earlier).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Napier|first1=Alan|last2=Bigwood|first2=James|title=Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Co.|date=2015|isbn=9781476662879|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUbJCgAAQBAJ|pages=8–9, 15}}</ref> | |||
Napier was a first cousin-once removed of ],<ref>{{cite news |title="Good Old Neville" Draws Support from Actor-Cousin |newspaper=Bradford Evening Star |agency=] |date=9 May 1940 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1317517/alan_napiers_support_for_his_cousin/ |via = ]}} {{Open access}}</ref> Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940. He was educated at ] and,<ref name="Alan Napier">{{cite web|title=After Packwood|url=http://www.packwood-haugh.co.uk/information/old-packwoodians/after-packwood.../|publisher=Packwood Haugh School|access-date=26 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919134234/http://www.packwood-haugh.co.uk/information/old-packwoodians/after-packwood.../|archive-date=19 September 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> after leaving ],<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. pp446/77: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948.</ref> he studied at the ], graduating in 1925.<ref>{{cite web |title=Student & Graduate profiles |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/?q=1925&page=4 |website=RADA |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref> | |||
In '']'', he played the ethically questionable psychiatrist who is hired to declare Bernadette mentally ill. He appeared in two ] films - the ] '']'', in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and ]'s '']'', in which he played ]. He also played the vicious Earl of Warwick in '']''. | |||
He was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with the likes of ] and ]. As Napier recalled, his "ridiculously tall" {{convert|6|ft|6|in}} height<ref>{{Citation | |||
In 1966, he was the first to be cast on the smash-hit TV series ''Batman'', as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played with delightful gusto until the series' cancellation in 1968. Napier's career extended into the 1980s, with TV roles in such miniseries as '']'' and such weeklies as '']''. | |||
| last1 = Oldham | first1 = Michael | |||
| title = 'Batman' Butler Alan Napier's Castellammare Home | |||
| newspaper = Palisadian-Post | |||
| date = 8 November 2018 | |||
| url = https://www.palipost.com/batman-butler-alan-napiers-castellammare-home/ | |||
| access-date = 28 December 2019 | |||
|url-access = subscription}}</ref> almost cost him his position immediately after he secured it. ] had dismissed ] because he was too tall for most parts.<ref name=Eagle>{{cite news |title=Alan Napier Gets There is Spite of Skyscraper Effect |newspaper=] |date=5 May 1940 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1313488/alan_napier_is_tall/ |via = ]}} {{Open access}}</ref> Napier was interviewed (and accepted) as Guthrie's replacement while sitting down. Fagan realized that Napier was even taller than Guthrie when he stood up, but honoured his commitment.<ref name=Eagle/> Napier performed for ten years (1929–1939) on the West End stage. Napier described himself as having a particular affinity for the work of ], and in 1937 appeared in a London revival of '']'' supervised by Shaw himself.<ref name=":0" /> | |||
He made his American stage debut as the romantic lead opposite ] in ''Lady in Waiting''.<ref name=Eagle/> Though his film career had begun in Britain in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he joined the British expatriate community in ] in 1941. There he spent time with such people as ], a fellow ex-Oxford Player. He appeared in such films as '']'' (1942), '']'' (1942), and '']'' (1944). In '']'' (1943), he played the ethically questionable psychiatrist who is hired to declare Bernadette mentally ill. He also played the vicious Earl of Warwick in '']'' (1948). He performed in two ]an films: the ] '']'' (1948), in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and ]'s '']'' (1953), as ]. He appeared as Mr. Rutland in the Hitchcock movie '']'' (1964). | |||
He died from a ], in ], at the age of 85. | |||
In 1949, he made an appearance on the short-lived ] '']'' as ], in an adaptation of "]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Barnes|first=Alan| authorlink=Alan Barnes (writer) |title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |year=2011 |publisher=]|page=311 |ISBN=9780857687760}}</ref> In the 1950s, he appeared on TV in four episodes of '']'' and guest starred on ]'s ] ] series '']''. He had a recurring role as General Steele on the 1962–1963 situation comedy '']'' | |||
==Trivia== | |||
==''Batman''== | |||
Alan Napier is the grandfather of actor ]. | |||
In 1965, he was the first to be cast in the ''Batman'' TV series,<ref name = mercury>{{cite web |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/birmingham-actor-was-batmans-butler-237570 |title=Birmingham actor was Batman's butler |work=Sunday Mercury |date=3 January 2009 |access-date=30 July 2020 }}</ref> as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played until the series' cancellation in 1968. <blockquote>I had never read comics before . My agent rang up and said, 'I think you are going to play on "Batman,"' I said 'What is "Batman"?' He said, 'Don't you read the comics?' I said, 'No, never.' He said, 'I think you are going to be Batman's butler.' I said, 'How do I know I want to be Batman's butler?' It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. He said, 'It may be worth over $100,000.' So I said I was Batman's butler.<ref name = mercury/></blockquote> | |||
==Later life and career== | |||
] (born April 14, 1960) was the second actor to play the role of ] in the television series ]. He joined the show in 1971, replacing ], and continued until the show ended in 1974. He is now a race car driver in Northern California, and continues to act in community theater there. | |||
Napier's career extended into the 1980s with roles on television, including the miniseries '']'', '']'', and '']'', and the drama '']''. He retired in 1981, aged 78. | |||
In early 1988, Napier appeared on the late-night talk show ] as part of a reunion of the surviving cast of ''Batman'', despite being in a wheelchair.<ref name=":0" /><ref></ref> His co-star ] described the reunion show as overbooked, and when host ] finally turned his attention to Napier, it was only to ask him a silly question, then cut him off abruptly as he was telling a story, much to Napier's annoyance. Napier did not participate in the subsequent cast reunion held before his death.<ref name="mercury" /> | |||
The ] series finale, has Batman going undercover to investigate the true motives of the ]. His disguise resembles Alan Napier. | |||
==Family== | |||
In the ], ]'s name is Jack Napier, in homage to Alan Napier. | |||
Napier was twice married. His second wife, Aileen Dickens Hawksley, was a great-granddaughter of novelist ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUbJCgAAQBAJ&q=Aileen+Dickens+Hawksley&pg=PA199|title=Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier|last1=Napier|first1=Alan|last2=Bigwood|first2=James|date=2015-09-24|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476662879|language=en}}</ref> Hawksley's daughter from a previous marriage, actress Jennifer Raine, was the mother of former child actor ], best known as "Chris Partridge" on the 1970s television show '']''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/1993/scene/people-news/jennifer-raine-bissell-102962/|title=Jennifer Raine Bissell|author=Variety Staff|date=1993-01-14|work=Variety|access-date=2018-11-03|language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
==Death== | |||
== Selected filmography == | |||
Napier suffered a ] in 1987, was hospitalized from June 1988, and was gravely ill for several days before his death of natural causes on 8 August 1988, in the Berkeley East Convalescent Hospital in ], ]. He was 85 years old.<ref name=AP/> | |||
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==Autobiography== | |||
== Personal quotes == | |||
{{cquote| "I had never read comics before I . My agent rang up and said, 'I think you are going to play on "Batman,"' I said 'What is "Batman"?' He said, 'Don't you read the comics?' I said, 'No, never.' He said, 'I think you are going to be Batman's butler.' I said, 'How do I know I want to be Batman's butler?' It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. He said, 'It may be worth over $100,000.' So I said I was Batman's butler."}} | |||
In the early 1970s, Napier wrote a three-volume autobiography which was not published at the time because, as he joked, "I haven't committed a major crime and I'm not known to have slept with any famous actresses."<ref>"Alan Napier", ''Films in Review'', February 1979, Vol XXX No. 2</ref> In 2015, McFarland Press published the book under the title ''Not Just Batman's Butler'', with Napier's original text annotated and updated by James Bigwood.{{Citation needed |date=January 2022}} | |||
== External links == | |||
* {{imdb name|id=0621002|name=Alan Napier}} | |||
* | |||
* | |||
==Partial filmography== | |||
] | |||
{{div col|colwidth=30em}} | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1930) as Capt. Hawtree | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1931) as Bouchier | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1932) as Count Romano | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1933) as Gen. Canynge | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1936) as Redfern | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1937) as General | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1937) as Governor | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1939) as Sir Hamar Ryman | |||
* '']'' (1939) as Archdeacon | |||
* ''] '' (1940) as Willie Spears | |||
* '']'' (1940) as Fuller | |||
* '']'' (1940) as Updyke (scenes deleted) | |||
* '']'' (1942) as Black Watch officer | |||
* '']'' (1942) as Restaurateur (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1942) as Doc Carver (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1942) as Julian | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Sam Wells | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Col. Patterson (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Jock | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Dr. Bladh (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Dr. Debeau (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1943) as Dr. Woodring | |||
* '']'' (1944) as Dr. Scott | |||
* '']'' (1944) as Eric Latimer | |||
* '']'' (1944) as MacDougald, Chief Engineer | |||
* '']'' (1944) as Dr. JM Forrester | |||
* '']'' (1944) as Mr. Parker | |||
* '']'' (1944) as The Doctor (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1944) as The Count de Breville | |||
* '']'' (1945) as Sir Henry Chapman | |||
* '']'' (1945) as St. Aubyn | |||
* '']'' (1946) as David Shackleford | |||
* '']'' (1946) as F. Holmes Harmon | |||
* '']'' (1946) as Houdon De Pierremont, Police Minister | |||
* '']'' (1946) as Judge Henry Saladine | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Aga | |||
* '']'' (1947) as The Tourist | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Tommy Donlin | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Sir Jonathan Wright | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Attwater | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Detective Gordon | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Dr. Nicholas Adams | |||
* '']'' (1947) as ] | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Landale | |||
* '']'' (1947) as Monty Beresford | |||
* '']'' (1948) as Defense Attorney | |||
* '']'' (1948) as A Holy Father | |||
* '']'' (1948) as Earl of Warwick | |||
* '']'' (1948) as Sir George | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Finchley | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Kittredge | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Douglas Jessup | |||
* '']'' (1949) as High Executioner | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Alton Bennet | |||
* '']'' (1949) as The General | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Lord Provost | |||
* '']'' (1949) as Dr. Druzik | |||
* '']'' (1950) as Khalil | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Capt. Kidd | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Commissioner Peters | |||
* '']'' (1951) as ] | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Barton | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Capt. Humberstone Lyon | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Prof. George Carter | |||
* '']'' (1951) as Count Grassin | |||
* '']'' (1952) as Sturak | |||
* '']'' (1953) as Cicero | |||
* '']'' (1953) as Robert Tyrwhitt | |||
* '']'' (1954) as Despreaux | |||
* '']'' (1955) as Parson Glennie | |||
* '']'' (1956) as Sir Brockhurst | |||
* '']'' (1956) as Raymond Sheridan | |||
* '']'' (1956) as Elinu, the High Priest | |||
* '']'' (1957) as Prosecution Attorney | |||
* '']'' (1959) as Dr. Paul Lujan | |||
* '']'' (1959) as Dean | |||
* '']'' (1961) as Prof. Joe B. Larson (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1962) as Señor Pardo | |||
* '']'' (1962) as Dr. Gideon Gault | |||
* '']'' (1963) as Sir Pellinore (voice) | |||
* '']'' (1964) as Mr. Rutland | |||
* '']'' (1964) as Huntsman / Reporter #3 / Hound (voice, uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1964) as Gentleman who escorts Eliza to the Queen of Transylvania (uncredited) | |||
* '']'' (1964) as The Vicar | |||
* '']'' (1964) as Col. Peter MacLean | |||
* '']'' (1965) as English Club Official | |||
* '']'' (1966) as ] | |||
{{div col end}} | |||
==Partial television credits== | |||
] | |||
* '']'' (1949) Season 1 Episode 10: "]" as Sherlock Holmes | |||
* '']'' (1955) Season 1 Episode 5: "]" aka "The Vanishing Lady" as Sir Everett | |||
* '']'' (1956) Season 1 Episode 26: "Whodunit" as Wilfred - The Recording Angel | |||
* '']'' (1957) Season 2 Episodes 25, 26, 27: "]" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 as Lord Sorrington | |||
* '']'' (1959) Season 4 Episode 24: "The Avon Emeralds" as Sir Charles Harrington | |||
* '']'' (1962–1963 TV series), recurring role as General Steele | |||
* '']'' (1963) (Season 1 Episode 26: "An Out for Oscar") as Mr. Hodges | |||
* '']'' (1963) episode "]" as Captain Protheroe | |||
* '']'' (1965) S1/E26-27 "Cain's Birthday" (Parts 1 & 2) as Colonel Sir Hubert Crater | |||
* '']'' (1965) S2/E13 "The Perilous Journey" as Lord Brisbane | |||
* '']'' (1965) (Season 3 Episode 22: "Thou Still Unravished Bride") as Guerny, Sr. | |||
* '']'' (1966–1968) as Alfred Pennyworth | |||
* '']'' (1967) Episode "The Clampetts In London" as Chemist | |||
* '']'' (1969) S3/E17 "Oh to be in England" as Mr. Wills | |||
* '']'' (1970, 1973, 1974) | |||
* '']'' (1974 miniseries) as Semple | |||
* '']'' (1978 miniseries) as Dr. Bleeker | |||
* '']'' (1979 miniseries) as Lord Venneford | |||
==References== | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
==External links== | |||
{{Portal|Biography}} | |||
* {{IMDb name|0621002}} | |||
*{{IBDB name}} | |||
*{{Iobdb name|34046}} | |||
{{s-start}} | |||
{{succession box | |||
| before = '''Eric Wilton''' | |||
| title = ] | |||
| years = 1966–1968 | |||
| after = ]}} | |||
{{s-end}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Napier, Alan}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 13:29, 26 November 2024
English actor (1903–1988)
Alan Napier | |
---|---|
Napier in 1949 | |
Born | Alan William Napier-Clavering (1903-01-07)7 January 1903 King's Norton, Birmingham, England |
Died | 8 August 1988(1988-08-08) (aged 85) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
Resting place | Cremated; ashes scattered in the garden of his home in Pacific Palisades, California |
Education | Clifton College |
Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Years active | 1920s–1981 |
Spouses |
|
Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later on in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.
Early life and career
He was born Alan William Napier-Clavering on 7 January 1903 in Birmingham to Claude and Millicent (née Kenrick) Napier-Clavering. He had two older siblings, Mark (born five years earlier) and Molly (born two and a half years earlier).
Napier was a first cousin-once removed of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940. He was educated at Packwood Haugh School and, after leaving Clifton College, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1925.
He was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with the likes of John Gielgud and Robert Morley. As Napier recalled, his "ridiculously tall" 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) height almost cost him his position immediately after he secured it. J. B. Fagan had dismissed Tyrone Guthrie because he was too tall for most parts. Napier was interviewed (and accepted) as Guthrie's replacement while sitting down. Fagan realized that Napier was even taller than Guthrie when he stood up, but honoured his commitment. Napier performed for ten years (1929–1939) on the West End stage. Napier described himself as having a particular affinity for the work of George Bernard Shaw, and in 1937 appeared in a London revival of Heartbreak House supervised by Shaw himself.
He made his American stage debut as the romantic lead opposite Gladys George in Lady in Waiting. Though his film career had begun in Britain in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he joined the British expatriate community in Hollywood in 1941. There he spent time with such people as James Whale, a fellow ex-Oxford Player. He appeared in such films as Random Harvest (1942), Cat People (1942), and The Uninvited (1944). In The Song of Bernadette (1943), he played the ethically questionable psychiatrist who is hired to declare Bernadette mentally ill. He also played the vicious Earl of Warwick in Joan of Arc (1948). He performed in two Shakespearean films: the Orson Welles Macbeth (1948), in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and MGM's Julius Caesar (1953), as Cicero. He appeared as Mr. Rutland in the Hitchcock movie Marnie (1964).
In 1949, he made an appearance on the short-lived television anthology series Your Show Time as Sherlock Holmes, in an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band". In the 1950s, he appeared on TV in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and guest starred on Dale Robertson's NBC western series Tales of Wells Fargo. He had a recurring role as General Steele on the 1962–1963 situation comedy Don't Call Me Charlie!
Batman
In 1965, he was the first to be cast in the Batman TV series, as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played until the series' cancellation in 1968.
I had never read comics before . My agent rang up and said, 'I think you are going to play on "Batman,"' I said 'What is "Batman"?' He said, 'Don't you read the comics?' I said, 'No, never.' He said, 'I think you are going to be Batman's butler.' I said, 'How do I know I want to be Batman's butler?' It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. He said, 'It may be worth over $100,000.' So I said I was Batman's butler.
Later life and career
Napier's career extended into the 1980s with roles on television, including the miniseries QB VII, The Bastard, and Centennial, and the drama The Paper Chase. He retired in 1981, aged 78.
In early 1988, Napier appeared on the late-night talk show The Late Show as part of a reunion of the surviving cast of Batman, despite being in a wheelchair. His co-star Yvonne Craig described the reunion show as overbooked, and when host Ross Shafer finally turned his attention to Napier, it was only to ask him a silly question, then cut him off abruptly as he was telling a story, much to Napier's annoyance. Napier did not participate in the subsequent cast reunion held before his death.
Family
Napier was twice married. His second wife, Aileen Dickens Hawksley, was a great-granddaughter of novelist Charles Dickens. Hawksley's daughter from a previous marriage, actress Jennifer Raine, was the mother of former child actor Brian Forster, best known as "Chris Partridge" on the 1970s television show The Partridge Family.
Death
Napier suffered a stroke in 1987, was hospitalized from June 1988, and was gravely ill for several days before his death of natural causes on 8 August 1988, in the Berkeley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He was 85 years old.
Autobiography
In the early 1970s, Napier wrote a three-volume autobiography which was not published at the time because, as he joked, "I haven't committed a major crime and I'm not known to have slept with any famous actresses." In 2015, McFarland Press published the book under the title Not Just Batman's Butler, with Napier's original text annotated and updated by James Bigwood.
Partial filmography
- Caste (1930) as Capt. Hawtree
- Stamboul (1931) as Bouchier
- In a Monastery Garden (1932) as Count Romano
- Loyalties (1933) as Gen. Canynge
- Wings Over Africa (1936) as Redfern
- For Valour (1937) as General
- The Wife of General Ling (1937) as Governor
- The Four Just Men (1939) as Sir Hamar Ryman
- We Are Not Alone (1939) as Archdeacon
- The Invisible Man Returns (1940) as Willie Spears
- The House of the Seven Gables (1940) as Fuller
- Confirm or Deny (1940) as Updyke (scenes deleted)
- Eagle Squadron (1942) as Black Watch officer
- A Yank at Eton (1942) as Restaurateur (uncredited)
- Cat People (1942) as Doc Carver (uncredited)
- Random Harvest (1942) as Julian
- Assignment in Brittany (1943) as Sam Wells
- Appointment in Berlin (1943) as Col. Patterson (uncredited)
- Lassie Come Home (1943) as Jock
- Madame Curie (1943) as Dr. Bladh (uncredited)
- The Song of Bernadette (1943) as Dr. Debeau (uncredited)
- Lost Angel (1943) as Dr. Woodring
- The Uninvited (1944) as Dr. Scott
- Action in Arabia (1944) as Eric Latimer
- The Hairy Ape (1944) as MacDougald, Chief Engineer
- Ministry of Fear (1944) as Dr. JM Forrester
- Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) as Mr. Parker
- Dark Waters (1944) as The Doctor (uncredited)
- Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) as The Count de Breville
- Hangover Square (1945) as Sir Henry Chapman
- Isle of the Dead (1945) as St. Aubyn
- Three Strangers (1946) as David Shackleford
- House of Horrors (1946) as F. Holmes Harmon
- A Scandal in Paris (1946) as Houdon De Pierremont, Police Minister
- The Strange Woman (1946) as Judge Henry Saladine
- Sinbad the Sailor (1947) as Aga
- Fiesta (1947) as The Tourist
- High Conquest (1947) as Tommy Donlin
- Ivy (1947) as Sir Jonathan Wright
- Adventure Island (1947) as Attwater
- Lured (1947) as Detective Gordon
- Driftwood (1947) as Dr. Nicholas Adams
- Unconquered (1947) as Sir William Johnson
- Forever Amber (1947) as Landale
- The Lone Wolf in London (1947) as Monty Beresford
- Johnny Belinda (1948) as Defense Attorney
- Macbeth (1948) as A Holy Father
- Joan of Arc (1948) as Earl of Warwick
- Hills of Home (1948) as Sir George
- Criss Cross (1949) as Finchley
- My Own True Love (1949) as Kittredge
- Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949) as Douglas Jessup
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) as High Executioner
- Manhandled (1949) as Alton Bennet
- The Red Danube (1949) as The General
- Challenge to Lassie (1949) as Lord Provost
- Master Minds (1949) as Dr. Druzik
- Tripoli (1950) as Khalil
- Double Crossbones (1951) as Capt. Kidd
- Tarzan's Peril (1951) as Commissioner Peters
- The Great Caruso (1951) as Jean de Reszke
- The Highwayman (1951) as Barton
- Across the Wide Missouri (1951) as Capt. Humberstone Lyon
- The Blue Veil (1951) as Prof. George Carter
- The Strange Door (1951) as Count Grassin
- Big Jim McLain (1952) as Sturak
- Julius Caesar (1953) as Cicero
- Young Bess (1953) as Robert Tyrwhitt
- Désirée (1954) as Despreaux
- Moonfleet (1955) as Parson Glennie
- The Court Jester (1956) as Sir Brockhurst
- Miami Exposé (1956) as Raymond Sheridan
- The Mole People (1956) as Elinu, the High Priest
- Until They Sail (1957) as Prosecution Attorney
- Island of Lost Women (1959) as Dr. Paul Lujan
- Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) as Dean
- Wild in the Country (1961) as Prof. Joe B. Larson (uncredited)
- Tender Is the Night (1962) as Señor Pardo
- The Premature Burial (1962) as Dr. Gideon Gault
- The Sword in the Stone (1963) as Sir Pellinore (voice)
- Marnie (1964) as Mr. Rutland
- Mary Poppins (1964) as Huntsman / Reporter #3 / Hound (voice, uncredited)
- My Fair Lady (1964) as Gentleman who escorts Eliza to the Queen of Transylvania (uncredited)
- Signpost to Murder (1964) as The Vicar
- 36 Hours (1964) as Col. Peter MacLean
- The Loved One (1965) as English Club Official
- Batman (1966) as Alfred Pennyworth
Partial television credits
- Your Show Time (1949) Season 1 Episode 10: "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" as Sherlock Holmes
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) Season 1 Episode 5: "Into Thin Air" aka "The Vanishing Lady" as Sir Everett
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956) Season 1 Episode 26: "Whodunit" as Wilfred - The Recording Angel
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1957) Season 2 Episodes 25, 26, 27: "I Killed the Count" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 as Lord Sorrington
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) Season 4 Episode 24: "The Avon Emeralds" as Sir Charles Harrington
- Don't Call Me Charlie! (1962–1963 TV series), recurring role as General Steele
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 1 Episode 26: "An Out for Oscar") as Mr. Hodges
- Twilight Zone (1963) episode "Passage on the Lady Anne" as Captain Protheroe
- Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) (1965) S1/E26-27 "Cain's Birthday" (Parts 1 & 2) as Colonel Sir Hubert Crater
- Daniel Boone (1964 TV series) (1965) S2/E13 "The Perilous Journey" as Lord Brisbane
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1965) (Season 3 Episode 22: "Thou Still Unravished Bride") as Guerny, Sr.
- Batman (1966–1968) as Alfred Pennyworth
- The Beverly Hillbillies (1967) Episode "The Clampetts In London" as Chemist
- Family Affair (1969) S3/E17 "Oh to be in England" as Mr. Wills
- Ironside (1970, 1973, 1974)
- QB VII (1974 miniseries) as Semple
- The Bastard (1978 miniseries) as Dr. Bleeker
- Centennial (1979 miniseries) as Lord Venneford
References
- ^ "Alan Napier, 'Batman's' butler, dies". Ukiah Daily Journal. Associated Press. 8 August 1988 – via Newspapers.com.
- Napier, Alan; Bigwood, James (2015). Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. pp. 8–9, 15. ISBN 9781476662879.
- ""Good Old Neville" Draws Support from Actor-Cousin". Bradford Evening Star. United Press. 9 May 1940 – via Newspapers.com.
- "After Packwood". Packwood Haugh School. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. pp446/77: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948.
- "Student & Graduate profiles". RADA. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
- Oldham, Michael (8 November 2018), "'Batman' Butler Alan Napier's Castellammare Home", Palisadian-Post, retrieved 28 December 2019
- ^ "Alan Napier Gets There is Spite of Skyscraper Effect". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 5 May 1940 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Napier, Alan; Bigwood, James (24 September 2015). Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier. McFarland. ISBN 9781476662879.
- Barnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. p. 311. ISBN 9780857687760.
- ^ "Birmingham actor was Batman's butler". Sunday Mercury. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- Alan Napier's Disappointing Final TV Appearance - The Late Show with Ross Shafer, April 28, 1988
- Variety Staff (14 January 1993). "Jennifer Raine Bissell". Variety. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
- "Alan Napier", Films in Review, February 1979, Vol XXX No. 2
External links
- Alan Napier at IMDb
- Alan Napier at the Internet Broadway Database
- Alan Napier at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Preceded byEric Wilton | Alfred Pennyworth Actor 1966–1968 |
Succeeded byMichael Gough |
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
- English male film actors
- English male television actors
- People educated at Clifton College
- 1903 births
- 1988 deaths
- Burials at Chapel of the Pines Crematory
- Male actors from Birmingham, West Midlands
- 20th-century English male actors
- English expatriate male actors in the United States