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Cecil Parker

Cecil Parker

Highest Rated: 100% The Ladykillers (1955)

Lowest Rated: 29% Lady L (1965)

Birthday: Sep 3, 1897

Birthplace: Hastings, East Sussex, England, UK

Cecil Parker is a British actor who, over the course of his career, made the transition between leading man to character actor, playing a series of stuffy, pompous upper crust Englishmen. Parker served in World War I, receiving an injury that left his head positioned in a rightward tilt. He began pursuing a career on the stage after his discharge, making his theatrical debut in 1922 and his on-screen debut in 1933. In the 1930s, Parker appeared mainly in supporting roles, frequently working with comic actor/director Tom Walls, and he had a small but memorable role as an adulterer in the Alfred Hitchcock mystery "The Lady Vanishes." In the late 1940s, Parker played a small number of roles, including the lead character in 1947's "Captain Boycott." As the '50s wore on, Parker gained weight and lost hair, consigning him to the character roles for which he would become known. Parker appeared in two of the best-loved Alec Guinness comedies directed by Alexander Mackendrick for Ealing Studios: 1951's "The Man in the White Suit" and 1955's "The Ladykillers." He occasionally appeared in Hollywood films, but he's probably best-recognized by American audiences for his role as the doomed captain whose shipwreck strands the family in the 1960 Disney film, "Swiss Family Robinson." His final role was in "Oh! What a Lovely War," Richard Attenborough's anti-war satire of the conflict in which Parker himself had served 50 years before.

Highest rated movies

100% 69% Indiscreet
100% 87% The Ladykillers
100% 81% The Man in the White Suit
100% 40% Dark Journey
98% 88% The Lady Vanishes
97% 93% The Court Jester
90% 59% The Stars Look Down
89% 72% The Citadel

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 40% What Happened at Campo Grande? British Ambassador (Character) - 1967
No Score Yet 34% A Study in Terror Prime Minister (Character) - 1966
29% 28% Lady L Sir Percy (Character) - 1965
No Score Yet 77% Guns at Batasi Fletcher (Character) - 1964
No Score Yet 41% Carry on Jack First Sealord (Character) - 1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Comedy Man Thomas Rutherford (Character) - 1964
No Score Yet 71% Heavens Above! Archdeacon Aspinall (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Brain Stevenson (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Swingin' Maiden Sir Giles Thompson (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Iron Maiden Sir Giles Thompson (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Amorous Mr. Prawn Gen. Sir HamishFitzadam (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet 44% On the Fiddle Group Capt. Bascombe (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet 40% The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's Professor Canford (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Petticoat Pirates C-in-C (Character) - 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Under Ten Flags Col. Howard (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Follow That Horse! Sir William Crane (Character) - 1960
82% 78% Swiss Family Robinson Captain Moreland (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet A French Mistress John Crane (Character) - 1960
No Score Yet 57% The Wreck of the Mary Deare The Chairman (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Happy Is the Bride Arthur Royd (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Navy Lark Cmdr. Stanton (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet 59% I Was Monty's Double Colonel EF Logan (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Make Mine a Double Air Vice-Marshal Sir Bertram Bukpasser (Character) - 1959
No Score Yet 49% A Tale of Two Cities Jarvis Lorry (Character) - 1958
100% 69% Indiscreet Alfred Munson (Character) - 1958
No Score Yet 72% Paradise Lagoon Lord Loam (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet True as a Turtle Dudley Partridge (Character) - 1957
No Score Yet 69% 23 Paces to Baker Street Bob Matthews (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet Plain Sailing Dudley Partridge (Character) - 1956
No Score Yet No Score Yet It's Great to Be Young Frome (Character) - 1956
97% 93% The Court Jester King Roderick I (Character) - 1955
100% 87% The Ladykillers Claude (Character) $22.2K 1955
No Score Yet 80% The Constant Husband Llewellyn (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet No Score Yet For Better, For Worse Anne's Father (Character) - 1954
63% 62% The Detective The Bishop (Character) - 1954
No Score Yet No Score Yet Isn't Life Wonderful? Father (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet I Believe in You Henry Phipps (Character) - 1952
100% 81% The Man in the White Suit Alan Birnley (Character) $8.3K 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet His Excellency Sir James Kirkman (Character) - 1951
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tony Draws a Horse Dr. Howard Fleming (Character) - 1951
56% 34% Under Capricorn The Governor (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dear Mr. Prohack Arthur Prohack (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Amazing Mr. Beecham Benjamin Beecham (Character) - 1949
No Score Yet No Score Yet The First Gentleman Prince Regent (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet 62% Quartet Colonel Peregrine (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Weaker Sex Geoffrey Radcliffe (Character) - 1948
No Score Yet No Score Yet Hungry Hill Copper John (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Woman in the Hall Sir Halmar Barnard (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet No Score Yet Captain Boycott Capt. Charles C. Boycott (Character) - 1947
80% 55% Caesar and Cleopatra Britannus (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet 60% Dangerous Moonlight Specialist (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet 29% The Saint's Vacation Rudolph Hauser (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ships With Wings German Air Marshal (Character) - 1941
90% 59% The Stars Look Down Stanley Millington (Character) - 1939
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sons of the Sea Cmdr. Herbert (Character) - 1939
89% 72% The Citadel Charles Every (Character) - 1938
98% 88% The Lady Vanishes Eric Todhunter (Character) - 1938
No Score Yet 50% Storm in a Teacup Provost William `'Willie'` Gow (Character) - 1937
100% 40% Dark Journey Captain of Q-Boat (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet 53% The Man Who Lived Again Dr. Gratton (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dishonor Bright Vincent Crane (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Jack of All Trades Sir Chas. Darrington (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Crime Unlimited Assistant Commissioner (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lady in Danger Piker (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Cuckoo in the Nest Claude Hickett (Character) - 1933

TV

Credit
No Score Yet 87% The Avengers Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet El Santo Lord Gillingham (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet I Spy Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet 87% Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Lawyer (Character) 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Studio One Unknown (Character) 1953