Alan Napier

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Alan Napier-Clavering

Birth Place

Birmingham, England, GB

Born

January 07, 1903

Died

August 08, 1988

Cause of Death

Pneumonia

Biography

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Tall, gaunt, elegant, mustachioed character actor, born in England, who after considerable stage and some film experience moved to the United States in 1939. Almost invariably in gentlemanly roles connoting Britishness, Napier played a variety of noblemen, butlers, senior officers, professors and aristocrats, with an occasional villager or con man thrown in for good measure. His over 70 ...

Filmography

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Forever Amber (1947)

Dialogue Director

The Monkey Mission (1981)

Crime Club (1972)

Signpost to Murder (1965)

36 Hours (1965)

Col. Peter MacLean

Photos & Videos

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36 Hours (1964) -- (Movie Clip) London, May 31, 1944

Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) -- (Movie Clip) In Occupied France

Notes

Napier's other stage credits include roles in "Coriolanus" (1954) and "Too Late the Phalarope" (1956).

Biography

Tall, gaunt, elegant, mustachioed character actor, born in England, who after considerable stage and some film experience moved to the United States in 1939. Almost invariably in gentlemanly roles connoting Britishness, Napier played a variety of noblemen, butlers, senior officers, professors and aristocrats, with an occasional villager or con man thrown in for good measure. His over 70 film credits include roles in "The House of the Seven Gables" (1940), "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), "Three Strangers" (1946), "Macbeth" (1948), "Julius Caesar" (1953), "The Court Jester" (1956), "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959) and "Marnie" (1964). A prolific TV performer, Napier is best-known as Alfred, the perfect butler to the Caped Crusaders (and the only person to know Batgirl's true identity), on the camp classic, "Batman."

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

Forever Amber (1947)

Dialogue Director

Cast (Feature Film)

The Monkey Mission (1981)

Crime Club (1972)

Signpost to Murder (1965)

36 Hours (1965)

Col. Peter MacLean

The Loved One (1965)

English club official

My Fair Lady (1964)

The Sword in the Stone (1963)

Tender Is the Night (1962)

Premature Burial (1962)

Dr. Gideon Gault

Wild in the Country (1961)

Professor Larson

Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

Island of Lost Women (1959)

Until They Sail (1957)

The Court Jester (1956)

The Mole People (1956)

Miami Expose (1956)

Raymond Sheridan

Moonfleet (1955)

Désirée (1954)

Young Bess (1953)

Robert Tyrwhitt

Julius Caesar (1953)

Big Jim McLain (1952)

Across the Wide Missouri (1951)

Captain Humberstone Lyon

The Strange Door (1951)

The Blue Veil (1951)

Professor George Carter

The Great Caruso (1951)

Double Crossbones (1951)

Tarzan's Peril (1951)

The Highwayman (1951)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949)

High executioner

The Red Danube (1949)

Challenge to Lassie (1949)

Criss Cross (1949)

Manhandled (1949)

My Own True Love (1949)

Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949)

Master Minds (1949)

Joan of Arc (1948)

Earl of Warwick

Johnny Belinda (1948)

Defense attorney

Hills of Home (1948)

Driftwood (1947)

Dr. Nicholas Adams

Sinbad the Sailor (1947)

High Conquest (1947)

The Lone Wolf in London (1947)

Monty Beresford

Sir Jonathan Wright

Adventure Island (1947)

Forever Amber (1947)

Unconquered (1947)

Sir William Johnson

Three Strangers (1946)

David Shakleford

The Strange Woman (1946)

A Scandal in Paris (1946)

A Scandal in Paris (1946)

House of Horrors (1946)

F. Holmes Harmon

The Song of Bernadette (1945)

Dr. Deboe, psychiatrist

Isle of the Dead (1945)

Hangover Square (1945)

Sir Henry Chapman

Dark Waters (1944)

Lost Angel (1944)

The Hairy Ape (1944)

The Uninvited (1944)

Action in Arabia (1944)

Ministry of Fear (1944)

Mademoiselle Fifi (1944)

The Count de Breville

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

Madame Curie (1944)

Lassie Come Home (1943)

Assignment in Brittany (1943)

Appointment in Berlin (1943)

Eagle Squadron (1942)

Black Watch officer

A Yank at Eton (1942)

Cat People (1942)

Random Harvest (1942)

We Were Dancing (1942)

Captain Blackstone

Confirm or Deny (1941)

The House of the Seven Gables (1940)

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

We Are Not Alone (1939)

Film Production - Main (Feature Film)

Enchantment (1949)

Cast (Special)

The Contest Kid Strikes Again (1979)

The Whirlwind (1974)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

The Bastard (1978)

Life Events

1929

Graduated to London's West End theaters and the Old Vic

1939

Immigrated to US

1939

Acted in first American feature film, "We Are Not Alone"

1940

Performed on the New York Stage opposite Gladys George in "Lady in Waiting"

Photo Collections

House of Horrors - Scene Stills

Here are several scene stills from Universal Pictures' House of Horrors (1946), starring Rondo Hatton as The Creeper.

Videos

36 Hours (1964) -- (Movie Clip) London, May 31, 1944 Opening, James Garner as American Pike, with Alan Napier as Col. MacLean and Russell Thorson as Gen. Allison, discussing the upcoming Normandy invasion and ways to find out what the Germans know, in 36 Hours, 1964, co-starring Rod Taylor and Eva Marie Saint.

Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) -- (Movie Clip) In Occupied France Opening from director Robert Wise and screenwriters Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric, from a Guy de Maupassant story, establishing France during the 1870 Prussian occupation, Charles Waldron a priest, Kurt Kreuger the improbably named title character, in Mademoiselle Fifi, 1944, starring Simone Simon.

Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Little Launderesses Or Liberals Introducing the protagonist, Simone Simon as laundress Elisabeth, catching a stage during the 1870 Prussian occupation of France with her social superiors (the bourgeoisie Alan Napier, Romaine Callender, Helen Freeman, Norma Varden, and Edmund Glover the priest), Jason Robards the voluble merchant, John Emery the agitator, in Mademoiselle Fifi, 1944.

Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) -- (Movie Clip) More Than A Patriot Everybody happier as resourceful laundress Elisabeth (Simone Simon) has shared her plentiful poultry with her famished upper-class stage coach companions, congratulated especially by Norma Varden and Jason Robards Sr., during the 1870 Prussian occupation of France, in RKO’s Mademoiselle Fifi, 1944.

Scandal In Paris (1946) -- (Movie Clip) I Have A Shrewd Suspicion Maneuvering himself into being made chief of police, con man George Sanders has assumed the name of a prominent local family and become a houseguest of the aristocrat police minister Houdon (Alan Napier), whose jewels he has stolen and hidden, and whose unsuspecting daughter (Signe Hasso) remains enthralled, in A Scandal In Paris, 1946.

Macbeth (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Is This A Dagger? Director, Shakespeare-adapter and star Orson Welles plots murder with his wife (Jeanette Nolan), dismisses Banquo (Edgar Barrier) and sees a ghost in Macbeth, 1948.

Lured (1947) -- (Movie Clip) I'm To Be The Bait American showgirl Sandy (Lucille Ball), inquiring with the London police about her disappeared friend, learns from Gordon (Alan Napier) and his boss Temple (Charles Coburn) about the serial killer, and is recruited as a detective, Douglas Sirk directing, in Lured, 1947.

Cat People (1942) -- (Movie Clip) She Looks Like A Cat At their wedding dinner Irina (Simone Simon) is thrilled that Oliver (Kent Smith) has found a Serbian restaurant, friends (Alan Napier, Jack Holt, Jane Randolph) conversing until a spooky fellow immigrant (Elizabeth Russell) appears, in producer Val Lewton's original Cat People 1942.

Appointment In Berlin (1943) -- (Movie Clip) Prime Minister Chamberlain Opening scene, radio report on the Munich Pact, George Sanders as an indignant RAF officer, listening with his father (H.P. Sanders), playing his father, and Alan Napier, then meeting news agent Smitty (Alec Craig), in the 20th Century Fox programmer Appointment In Berlin, 1943.

Isle of the Dead -- (Movie Clip) No One May Leave Doctor Drossos (Ernest Dorian) and General Ferides (Boris Karloff) have bad and worse news for guests on an obscure Adriatic island in Isle of the Dead, 1945, directed by Mark Robson, produced by Val Lewton.

Ministry Of Fear (1944) -- (Movie Clip) You Killed Me! Widower Neale (Ray Milland) and Willi (Carl Esmond), hunting spies in wartime London, join the seance hosted by Mrs. Bellane (Hillary Brooke), Cost (Dan Duryea) also a late arrival, in Fritz Lang's Ministry Of Fear, 1944, from a Graham Greene novel.

Miami Expose -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Mayor Christmas The none-too-polished real mayor of Miami, Randy Christmas, leads into the newsy opening sequence of director Fred F. Sears' low-budget mob drama Miami Expose, 1956, starring Lee J. Cobb.

We Were Dancing - (Original Trailer) A Polish princess gives up society for the love of a gigolo in We Were Dancing (1942) starring Norma Shearer and Melvyn Douglas.

Uninvited, The - (Original Trailer) Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey are siblings who discover their new house is visited by The Uninvited (1944), one of the first, and best, serious ghost stories from Hollywood.

Julius Caesar - (Re-issue Trailer) Marlon Brando heads an all-star cast in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1953).

Big Jim McLain - (Original Trailer) An investigator (John Wayne) for the House Un-American Activities Committee takes on Communists in Hawaii in Big Jim McLain (1952).

Desiree - (Original Trailer) A young woman (Jean Simmons) wins the heart of Napoleon (Marlon Brando), though the two can never be together in Desiree (1954).

Lassie Come Home - (Original Trailer) A faithful collie undertakes an arduous journey to return to his lost family in Lassie Come Home (1943) starring Roddy McDowall.

36 Hours - (Original Trailer) James Garner thinks World War II is over but it's all a charade concocted by the Nazis in 36 Hours (1965).

Johnny Belinda - (Original Trailer) Jane Wyman won a Best Actress Award portraying a deaf-mute girl who learns to communicate with the help of a small town doctor (Lew Ayres) in Johnny Belinda (1948), directed by Jean Negulesco.

Isle of the Dead - (Original Trailer) Boris Karloff is trapped on the Isle of the Dead (1945) where visitors are felled by the plague...or is it the dread "varvoloka"?

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A (1949) - (Original Trailer) Bing Crosby brings 19th-Century know-how to Camelot in a musical version of Mark Twain's classic tale.

Loved One, The - (Original Trailer) Robert Morse heads an all-star cast in the bizarre comedy The Loved One (1965) based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh.

Criss Cross - (Re-issue Trailer) Burt Lancaster is an armored-car driver pulled into a bank heist in the film noir classic Criss Cross (1949).

Family

Neville Chamberlain

Cousin

Statesman. Prime Minister of England from 1937 to 1940.

Jennifer Raine Bissell

Daughter

Actor. Died January 5, 1993 at age 60; was married to veteran character actor Whit Bissell.

Jennifer Nichols

Daughter

Bibliography

Notes

Napier's other stage credits include roles in "Coriolanus" (1954) and "Too Late the Phalarope" (1956).

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