Actor Geoffrey Palmer dies aged 93
6 November 2020, 13:40 | Updated: 6 November 2020, 14:31
Actor Geoffrey Palmer has died peacefully at home aged 93.
The prolific film and TV actor's roles included Butterflies, As Time Goes By and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.
He was best known for his starring role alongside Dame Judi Dench in As Time Goes By, a BBC sitcom about two former lovers who meet unexpectedly and later marry, which ran from 1992 to 2005.
He also featured in Mrs Brown, along with Dench, and The Madness of King George.
“We regret to sadly announce that the actor Geoffrey Palmer died peacefully at home yesterday aged 93,” his agent said in a statement.
We’re sad to report the death of Geoffrey Palmer, who starred in The Silurians, The Mutants and Voyage of the Damned 💙💙 https://t.co/6bH1uJLceI pic.twitter.com/4lmX9McNIC
— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) November 6, 2020
His early television roles included appearances in The Army Game, The Saint and The Avengers and he went on to appear in Doctor Who, as well as the infamous Kipper and the Corpse episode of Fawlty Towers.
Director Edgar Wright was one of the first to pay tribute to Palmer on Twitter, writing: “The flight path gag wiping out the lines of Reggie Perrin’s brother in law is one of my favourite running gags in comedy. RIP to the brilliantly funny Geoffrey Palmer.
The Doctor Who programme tweeted the shows in which he appeared in tribute.
In recent years he appeared in the 2014 Paddington film, Parade's End and WE. He was made an OBE in 2004 for services to drama.
Commenting on his well-known and beloved hangdog facial expression, Palmer once said: “I am not grumpy. I just look this way.”
He also campaigned against the HS2 railway line, which was planned to run close to his house in the Chilterns.
