Geoffrey Palmer

Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (born 4 June 1927) is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By. After demob from the Royal Marines, Palmer drifted into theatre, joining a local amateur dramatics society because of a girlfriend. He became an assistant stage manager at the Q Theatre, by Kew Bridge, then the Grand Theatre in Croydon. He spent several years touring with a repertory company, and was an a... more

Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE (born 4 June 1927) is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By. After demob from the Royal Marines, Palmer drifted into theatre, joining a local amateur dramatics society because of a girlfriend. He became an assistant stage manager at the Q Theatre, by Kew Bridge, then the Grand Theatre in Croydon. He spent several years touring with a repertory company, and was an actor in theatre, coming to television and public prominence later in his career. Early television appearances included a variety of roles in Granada Television's The Army Game and as a property agent in Cathy Come Home, a very highly influential drama documentary shown on British TV in 1966. Getting a major break in John Osborne's West of Suez at the Royal Court with Ralph Richardson, he then acted in major productions at the Royal Court and the Royal National Theatre and was directed by Laurence Olivier. Many of his television parts were as a... less