Richard Vernon

Richard Vernon
Richard Vernon in Goldfinger (1964)
Born	7 March 1925(1925-03-07) Reading, Berkshire, England
Died	4 December 1997 (aged 72) London, England
Occupation	Film, television actor
Years active	1949—1996

Richard Vernon (7 March, 1925 – 4 December, 1997) was a British actor. He was educated at Reading School and Leighton Park School. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic roles.

Life and work

In 1960, Vernon appeared in an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel, The Citadel. An early leading role was as wartime agent-turned-criminologist Edwin Oldenshaw in the TV series The Man in Room 17 (1965-66) and its sequel The Fellows (1967). He also played a small role as Colonel Smithers opposite Sean Connery in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger around a dinner table when they are discussing how Auric Goldfinger transports his gold overseas.

He is remembered for his parts as the unnamed 'city gent' reluctantly sharing a train compartment with the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night, the planetary designer Slartibartfast (designer of fjords) in the BBC radio and TV series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as Sir James Greenley ("C") in The Sandbaggers, as Lord Salisbury in Edward the Seventh, as Major Toby Smith-Barton in The Duchess of Duke Street, as the Duke of Broughton in Nanny, as the occasional character Sir Desmond Glazebrook in the TV series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and his role as Mr Becket in Sammy's Super T-Shirt. He also appeared in the 1965 Morecambe and Wise film The Intelligence Men as patron of the arts Sir Edward Seabrook, Lord Bartelsham in Ripping Yarns, and Squire Dale in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of The Small House at Allington. In 1986, he appeared in Paradise Postponed.

On radio, in 1978 he played Sir Gerald Tarrant in a BBC World Service adaptation of the Modesty Blaise book Last Day in Limbo. He also starred in the title role of Lord Emsworth in several BBC Radio 4 series of Blandings between 1985 and 1992.

His final film appearance was a lovely cameo at the end of the family film Loch Ness, which was released in 1996.

He died of Parkinson's Disease on 4 December 1997.

Filmography

• Stop Press Girl (1949)
• Indiscreet (1958)
• The Heart of a Man (1959)
• The Siege of Pinchgut (1959)
• Foxhole in Cairo (1960)
• Village of the Damned (1960)
• Cash on Demand (1961)
• We Joined the Navy (1962)
• Reach for Glory (1962)
• Just for Fun (1963)
• The Servant (1963)
• Hot Enough for June (1964)
• A Hard Day's Night (1964)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Allez France! (1964)
• The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
• The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
• The Intelligence Men (1965)
• The Secret of My Success (1965)
• The Early Bird (1965)
• Song of Norway (1970)
• She'll Follow You Anywhere (1971)
• Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976)
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
• Sammy's Super T-Shirt (1978)
• The Human Factor (1979)
• The Box (1981)
• Evil Under the Sun (1982)
• Gandhi (1982)
• Night Train to Murder (1983)
• Lady Jane (1986)
• A Month in the Country (1987)
• Loch Ness (1996) (cameo)

External links

• Richard Vernon at the Internet Movie Database

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