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1-13 of 13
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dignified, aristocratic-looking Richard Vernon was born to English parents in Kenya. He was educated at Reading and Leighton Park Schools and commenced his acting career near the end of his wartime service with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, producing, directing and starring in a production of George Bernard Shaw's 'Heartbreak House' for the Combined Services Club. At various times he was stationed in Singapore and Hong Kong. After being demobbed, Richard completed his training at the Central School of Speech and Drama. On the professional stage from 1950, he enjoyed a successful theatrical career in West End productions ranging from 'Peter Pan' (as Mr.Darling) to Noël Coward's 'Hay Fever' (as Richard Greatham). During the 60s, he appeared in supporting roles in several prestigious motion pictures, including Village of the Damned (1960), The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964) and Goldfinger (1964).
Considerably better employed on the small screen, Richard evolved into the consummate scene-stealer. Balding, looking rather older than his years and a dignified bearing made him ideal casting for typically British stiff-upper-lip military or aristocratic types or stuffy senior public servants. A noteworthy early starring role was as The Man in Room 17 (1965), a barrister and ex- war correspondent assigned to a secret unit as an infallible criminologist investigating cases deemed too difficult for the local plods and Scotland Yard. A natural propensity for period drama then insured his successful run in several popular series, notably Upstairs, Downstairs (1971) and The Duchess of Duke Street (1976). Above all, Richard excelled in gleeful old rogues and slightly dishevelled or befuddled eccentrics. His great asset was a way of delivering even the funniest of lines totally deadpan and matter-of-fact. He was wonderfully droll as Lord Bartlesham in the Ripping Yarns (1976) episode 'Roger of the Raj'. Arguably his most famous role was that of galactic fjord builder Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), a part to which he had originally lent his voice in a 1978 radio serial.
A truly unique and likeable character actor, Richard Vernon plied his craft until two years prior to his death from Parkinson's Disease. From 1955 until 1990, he had been married to Benedicta Leigh (née Hoskyns).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Richard Vernon was born in 1910 in London, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for The Shadow Man (1953), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and Gaslight (1940).- Opera singer Richard Vernon was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 9, 1953. He began his career while in his teens, singing with the Memphis Children's Theater, Memphis Opera Theater, the Southern Opera Theater, North Carolina Opera Theater, and the Houston Grand Opera. He won the Regional Metropolitan Opera auditions in 1977, and made his debut with the Met in a 1980 production of Satie's Parade. Vernon, an operatic bass, sang nearly 800 performances in leading and supporting roles with the Met. Vernon also appeared with the San Francisco Opera, the Washington Opera, San Diego Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and numerous other opera companies throughout the United States. He performed in such televised opera productions as Der Rosenkavalier (1982), Ernani (1983), La Forza del Destino (1984), Tosca (1985), and The Girl of the Golden West (1992). He also voiced such diverse roles as Pimen in Boris Godunov, Colline in La Boheme, Banquo in Macbeth, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, and the Commendatory in Don Giovanni. His final performance was in a Metropolitan Opera production of Tosca the week before his death. He died suddenly of a heart attack brought on by asthma at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania, on December 2, 2006, at the age of 53.
- Richard Vernon is known for 500.000 Francs (1920).
- Richard Vernon is known for Celebrity Ghost Stories (2008).
- Visual Effects
Richard Vernon-Smith is known for China's Megatomb Revealed (2016).- Richard Vernon is known for The Den (2013).
- Richard Vernon is known for The Otherworld (2016).