×
Loading in progress
  • BIRTH 04/03/1924
  • DEATH 30/07/1992
  • Country United Kingdom
  • SHOWS 7
  • MOVIES 4

Bert Parnaby

James Bertram "Bert" Parnaby (4 March 1924 – 30 July 1992) was a British actor who was notable for a string of TV and Film roles from the 1960s through the 1980s. His TV roles included performances in Blackadder, By the Sword Divided, Juliet Bravo, Inspector Morse and Last of the Summer Wine. In 1988, he appeared as Father Christmas in the BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His film credits included Prick Up Your Ears (1987), The Dressmaker (1988) and The Reunion (1989).

Whilst living in Didsbury, Bert was a schoolmaster at Manchester Grammar School during the 1950s and early 1960s. Teaching English, he was greatly involved in the production of teachers’ plays. He subsequently became an HMI (one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools).

On leaving the education profession, Parnaby worked as a producer and performer for the BBC. His monologues on breakfast radio often started ‘I hate …’, for example the edition about the Post Office, which was based on the Didsbury branch, albeit unnamed.

Parnaby died in July 1992 at the age of 68, shortly after the death of his wife Jane. A bench in their memory was later erected in Drummer Street, Cambridge.

Bert Parnaby

Shows (7)

Blackadder
Blackadder
Cain, a Blind Beggar / Cain, a Peasant / Dim Cain, a Peasant
Casualty
Casualty
Billie Jennings
Lovejoy
Lovejoy
Sorrel
All Creatures Great and Small
All Creatures Great and Small
Colonel Jenkins
Inspector Morse
Inspector Morse
Ben
The Comic Strip Presents
The Comic Strip Presents
Man / Neighbour
Nightingales (1990)
Nightingales (1990)
The Inspector

Movies (4)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the…
Father Christmas
Prick Up Your Ears
Prick Up Your Ears
Magistrate
Rainy Day Women
Rainy Day Women
Fleming
Rainy Day Women
Rainy Day Women
Fleming