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Gerald Harper

{{Short description|English actor (born 1929)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}

{{more footnotes|date=December 2015}}

{{Infobox person

| pre-nominals =

| name = Gerald Harper

| post-nominals =

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1929|02|15|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Barnet, Middlesex, England

| education = Haileybury

| alma_mater = RADA

| occupation = Actor

| years_active =

| spouse = {{marriage|Jane Downs|1957|1975|reason=div.}}

| partner =

| children = 2

}}

Gerald Harper (born 15 February 1929) is an English actor, best known for his work on television, having played the title roles in Adam Adamant Lives! (1966–67) and Hadleigh (1969–76). He then returned to his main love, the theatre. His classical work includes playing on Broadway with the Old Vic company, playing Iago at the Bristol Old Vic and Benedick at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Other plays in London included Crucifer of Blood at the Haymarket Theatre, House Guest, A Personal Affair, Suddenly at Home and Baggage. He has directed many plays, amongst them a production of Blithe Spirit in Hebrew at the Israeli National Theatre.

Early life

Harper was born in Middlesex,https://www.genesreunited.co.uk/search/results?sourcecategory=birthsutf002c%20marriages%20utf0026%20deaths&collection=births%20utf0026%20baptisms&firstname=gerald%20g%20f%20&firstname_variants=true&lastname=harper®ion=great%20britain and originally wanted to be a doctor, but became interested in acting while still at school. He was educated at Haileybury. After two years of national service in the British Army, he decided to abandon his medicine course at Cambridge University and successfully auditioned for RADA.{{cite web | url= https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/whats-on/find-things-to-do/gerald-in-gripping-thriller-4831231 | title= Gerald in gripping thriller| work=getsurrey.co.uk | date=24 January 2008 | access-date=14 January 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/gerald-harper/|title=Gerald Harper — RADA|last=Fabrique|website=www.rada.ac.uk}} He started in the London Arts Theatre followed by Liverpool Playhouse, before returning to London to perform in Charley's Aunt with Frankie Howerd.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/550906/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Harper, Gerald (1931–) Biography|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}

Acting career

Harper's film credits include The Admirable Crichton (1957), A Night to Remember (1958), The League of Gentlemen (1960), Tunes of Glory (1960), The Young Ones (1961), The Punch and Judy Man (1963), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and The Lady Vanishes (1979).{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2fe6607|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614183019/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2fe6607|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 June 2018|title=Gerald Harper|website=BFI}} Television work included The Sleeper, The Corsican Brothers and Gazette.{{cite web|url=http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=7470|title=Gerald Harper|website=www.aveleyman.com}}

Harper presented The Sunday Affair for Capital Radio{{cite web|url=https://www.mixcloud.com/simonluckin/gerald-harpers-sunday-affair-on-capital-17679/?play=fb|title=Gerald Harper's Sunday Affair on Capital: 15/6/80|first=Simon|last=Luckin|website=Mixcloud}} in the 1970s, and a series of Saturday afternoon shows for BBC Radio 2 in the early 1990s, in which he played classic songs from the past and gave away bottles of champagne and chocolates. His opening phrase, usually spoken over the introduction of the first song, was "Hello....I'm Gerald Harper. Welcome to my Saturday selection". The radio show was resurrected for Talksport between 2002 and 2003, and re-titled Champagne and Roses.

He also had roles in Free as Air and Ross and toured in America with the Old Vic and Boeing-Boeing.{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/w3a/gerald-harper/past?page=2|title=Gerald Harper – Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/gerald-harper-92002|title=Gerald Harper – Broadway Cast & Staff – IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com}} He toured the country in 2008 as the lead in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None directed by Joe Harmston for producer Bill Kenwright.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2008/01/29/and_then_there_were_none_review_feature.shtml|title=Review: And Then There Were None|last=BBC|website=www.bbc.co.uk}} He also played one of the barristers in The Baccarat Scandal at Chichester Festival Theatre which starred Keith Michell.{{cite web|url=https://passiton.cft.org.uk/archive/cast-list-the-royal-baccarat-scandal-1988/|title=Cast List, The Royal Baccarat Scandal (1988) – Pass It On|publisher=}}

Personal life

Harper was married to actress Jane Downs from 1957 until they divorced in 1975. In 2001, at the age of 70, he began a relationship with 30-year-old actress Sarah Alexander; the relationship ended when she left him for actor Peter Serafinowicz in 2002.{{cite web | url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/a-modern-mrs-robinson-with-a-passion-for-laughs-8280953.html | title= A modern Mrs Robinson with a passion for laughs | work=The Independent | first=Gerard | last=Gilbert | date=5 November 2012 | access-date=15 January 2022}}

Selected filmography

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References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|id=0363862|name=Gerald Harper}}
  • {{IBDB name|92002}}
  • {{screenonline name|id=550906}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Gerald}}

Category:1931 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century British Army personnel

Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge

Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:Male actors from London

Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College