Percy Herbert

Percy Herbert (31 July 1920 – 6 December 1992) was an English character actor who worked predominantly during the 1950s, '60s and '70s, becoming one of the most recognisable faces in post war British cinema.

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[2] 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 VicCompany.

Beginning his film career in the early 1950s he went onto 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 seriesCimarron Strip, during a brief foray to Hollywood. Other television work includesDanger Man, The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, and Worzel Gummidge.

Herbert died of a heart attack on 6 December 1992.

Partial filmography

• The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
• A Hill in Korea (1956)
• The Steel Bayonet (1957)
• Quatermass 2 (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• Barnacle Bill (1957)
• The Safecracker (1958)
• Sea of Sand (1958)
• Serious Charge (1959)
• Yesterday's Enemy (1959)
• The Challenge (1960)
• There Was a Crooked Man (1960)
• Tunes of Glory (1960)
• The Guns of Navarone (1961)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
• Call Me Bwana (1963)
• The Cracksman (1963)
• Carry On Jack (1963)
• Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963)
• The Counterfeit Constable (1964)
• Becket (1964)
• Guns at Batasi (1964)
• Joey Boy (1965)
• Carry On Cowboy (1965)
• Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
• One Million Years B.C. (1966)
• Casino Royale (1967)
• Tobruk (1967)
• The Viking Queen (1967)
• Mister Ten Per Cent (1967)
• Night of the Big Heat (1967)
• The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
• One More Time (1970)
• Too Late the Hero (1970)
• Captain Apache (1971)
• Man in the Wilderness (1971)
• The Fiend (1972)
• Up the Front (1972)
• Doomwatch (1972)
• The Mackintosh Man (1973)
• Black Snake (1973)
• Craze (1974)
• One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975)
• Hardcore (1977)
• Valentino (1977)
• The Wild Geese (1978)
• The London Connection (1979)
• The Sea Wolves (1980)
• The Love Child (1988)