Percy Herbert (actor)

Percy Herbert (31 July 1920 – 6 December 1992)^[1] was an English actor.

Herbert was born in east London. His father left home when Herbert was a young boy. The middle sibling, Herbert was brought up by his mother Ann Herbert along with his brother Lawrence and his sister Maisie. In his youth he learned boxing at Repton Boxing club.

Post-war he returned to London. Dame Sybil Thorndike^[2] helped him secure an interview with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won a scholarship.^[3] His acting work began in the theatre, including at John Gielgud's Old Vic Company.^[4]

Beginning in 1954, he went on to appear in 78 films. He often played soldiers including in The Cockleshell Heroes and The Bridge on the River Kwai. The Bridge on the River Kwai was about British POWs working on the Burma Railway (of which Herbert had living experience). Herbert as well as being cast as Grogan, he was paid by Producer David Lean as a consultant on the film. It was Herbert who suggested using the well-known "Colonel Bogey March" that prisoners whistle in the film.

His other notable war films include Sea of Sand, Tunes of Glory, The Guns of Navarone, Guns at Batasi, Tobruk and The Wild Geese.^[5]

He was equally at home in comedies (Barnacle Bill, Casino Royale, 3 Carry On films), fantasy (One Million Years B.C., Mysterious Island), drama (Becket, Bunny Lake is Missing), and science fiction (Quatermass 2, Night of the Big Heat).^[1]

He also acted on television; he was a regular on the short-lived American series Cimarron Strip, during a brief foray to Hollywood. Other television work included Danger Man (re-titled Secret Agent on American TV), The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green and Worzel Gummidge.^[5][6]

Herbert died of a heart attack, aged 72, on 6 December 1992 in Broadstairs, Kent. He was survived by his childhood sweetheart and wife Amy, and his two daughters Vanessa and Katrina .^[7]

• Percy Herbert at IMDb