Alan Napier (born Alan W. Napier-Clavering; 7 January 1903 in King's Norton, Worcestershire (now a suburb of Birmingham), England – 8 August 1988 in Santa Monica, California, United States) was an English character actor. He is best known for playing Alfred in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.
Napier was a cousin of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940 and the great-great-grandson of author Charles Dickens. He was stage-struck from childhood and after graduating from Clifton College, the tall 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), booming-voiced Napier studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, then later was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with such raw young talent as Sir John Gielgud and Robert Morley. He continued working with the cream of Britain's acting crop during his ten years (1929–1939) on the West End stage. He came to New York City in 1940 to co-star with Gladys George in Lady in Waiting. Though his film career had begun in England in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he arrived and joined the British community in Hollywood in 1941. There he spent time with such people as James Whale. He usually played dignified, sometimes WASPish roles of all sizes in such films as Cat People (1942), The Uninvited (1943), and House of Horror (1946).
In The Song of Bernadette, he played the ethically questionable psychiatrist who is hired to declare Bernadette mentally ill. He appeared in two Shakespeare films: the Orson Welles Macbeth, in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and MGM's Julius Caesar, in which he played Cicero. He also played the vicious Earl of Warwick in Joan of Arc. In the 1950s he appeared on TV in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
In 1966, he was the first to be cast on the smash-hit TV series Batman, as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played with delightful gusto until the series' cancellation in 1968. Napier's career extended into the 1980s, with TV roles in such miniseries as QB VII and such weeklies as The Paper Chase.
Death
He died from a stroke August 8, 1988, in Santa Monica, California, United States, at the age of 85. His final resting place is at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory.Relatives
- Alan Napier is the grandfather of actor Brian Forster, who is best known as portraying (the second) Chris Partridge on the television series, The Partridge Family.
- Alan Napier is also the great-grandfather of actor James Napier, who is perhaps most notable for his roles on the television series' The Tribe and Power Rangers Dino Thunder.
Homage
- The series finale of Justice League has Batman going undercover to investigate the true motives of the Thangarians. His disguise resembles Alan Napier.
- In the Australian soap opera Neighbours, there was a character, played by Barry Friedlander, who shared the same name as Napier and was similar in stature to him.
Selected filmography
- Cat People (1942)
- Random Harvest (1942)
- The Song of Bernadette (1943)
- The Hairy Ape (1944)
- Isle of the Dead (1945)
- Lured (1947)
- Johnny Belinda (1948)
- Joan of Arc (1948)
- Macbeth (1948)
- Hills of Home (1948)
- Julius Caesar (1953)
- Tender Is the Night (1962)
- The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- My Fair Lady (1964)
- Marnie (1964)
- Batman (1966)
Personal quotes
"I had never read comics before I [was hired for 'Batman']. My agent rang up and said, 'I think you are going to play on "Batman,"' I said 'What is "Batman"?' He said, 'Don't you read the comics?' I said, 'No, never.' He said, 'I think you are going to be Batman's butler.' I said, 'How do I know I want to be Batman's butler?' It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. He said, 'It may be worth over $100,000.' So I said I was Batman's butler."
References
External links
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Last updated on Friday July 25, 2008 at 07:51:36 PDT (GMT -0700)
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