# Percy Herbert (actor)

Percy Herbert (31 July 1920 – 6 December 1992) was an English actor. He worked predominantly from the 1950s into the 1970s and became one of the most recognisable faces in post-war British cinema.

## Life and career

Herbert served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during the Second World War and spent four years in the Japanese prisoner of war camp Changi. After the war, he was helped by Dame Sybil Thorndike to secure an interview with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he won a scholarship. His acting career began in the theatre, which included working at John Gielgud's Old Vic Company.
Beginning in 1954, he went on to make nearly seventy films, often playing soldiers, most notably in The Cockleshell Heroes, The Bridge on the River Kwai (for which he also worked as consultant as well as suggesting the use of the well-known "Colonel Bogey March" which the prisoners whistled in the film), Sea of Sand, Tunes of Glory, The Guns of Navarone, Guns at Batasi, Tobruk and The Wild Geese. However, he was equally at home in comedies (Barnacle Bill, Casino Royale, two 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).
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 includes Danger Man (retitled Secret Agent when shown on American TV), The Saint, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green and Worzel Gummidge.
Herbert was born in east London, and spent his youth learning to become a boxer at the Repton Boxing club. One of three siblings, he was the middle child. His father left home when he was a young boy and he was brought up by his mother Ann Herbert along with his brother Lawrence and his sister Maisie. During World War II he joined the British Army as a young man and was sent to Singapore via ship to fight in the Pacific. The British ship miscalculated the timing of its entry into harbour, and sailed into Singapore Harbour in broad daylight. The British were immediately bombed by Japanese aircraft and Herbert jumped ship and swam to shore with a broken collar bone. He was picked up by British soldiers and taken to the British Military Hospital, Singapore, where Herbert survived the Alexandra Hospital massacre. He was among 11 soldiers who survived and ultimately were captured and sent to the notorious Japanese Prison Camp at Changi, where he remained as a POW for the duration of the war. He was assigned to work on the Burma Railway and was released from Changi at the end of the war by American troops, after which he returned to London. One of the first films he was cast in was Bridge on the River Kwai, which was about British prisoners of the Japanese. David Lean, the producer of the film, paid Herbert a stipend to be a consultant on the film as he had been a POW there and was also cast in the role of Grogan, one of the first roles in which he was cast during his long and varied acting career. Herbert died of a heart attack, aged 72, on the 6th of December 1992 in Broadstairs, Kent, which is on the south coast of England. He was survived by his childhood sweetheart and wife Amy and his two daughters Vanessa and Katrina .

## Complete filmography

* I Done a Murder (1951, TV film) - The Rev. Christopher Spoke
* The Young Lovers (1954) - Richards (uncredited)
* Montserrat (1954, TV film) - Morales
* The Green Carnation (1954) - Casey O'Rourke
* One Good Turn (1955) - "Seen Enough" Boxing Spectator (uncredited)
* The Night My Number Came Up (1955) - R.E.M.E. Sergeant
* The Prisoner (1955) - Soldier (uncredited)
* Confession (1955) - Barman
* The Gold Express (1955)
* Timeslip (1955) - Assassin (uncredited)
* The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) - Marine Lomas
* Doctor at Sea (1955) - Helmsman (uncredited)
* Lost (1956) - Police Constable in Phone Box (uncredited)
* Child in the House (1956) - Det. Sgt. Taylor
* A Hill in Korea (1956) - Pte. Moon
* Tiger in the Smoke (1956) - Copper
* Quatermass 2 (1957) - Gorman
* The Steel Bayonet (1957) - Pte. Clark
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - Grogan
* Night of the Demon (1957) - Farmer (deleted from US print)
* Barnacle Bill (1957) - Tommy
* The Safecracker (1958) - Sergeant Harper
* No Time to Die (1958) - 1st British soldier
* Sea Fury (1958) - Walker
* Sea of Sand (1958) - 'Blanco' White
* Idol on Parade (1959) - Sgt. Hebrides
* The Square Ring (1959)
* The Hill (1959, TV film) - Reuben
* Serious Charge (1959) - Mr. Thompson
* Deadly Record (1959) - Belcher
* Yesterday's Enemy (1959) - Wilson
* The Devil's Disciple (1959) - Edict Sergeant
* Don't Panic Chaps! (1959) - Bolter
* A Touch of Larceny (1960) - (uncredited)
* The Challenge (1960) - Shop Steward
* There Was a Crooked Man (1960) - Prison Warden
* Tunes of Glory (1960) - RSM Riddick
* The Guns of Navarone (1961) - Sgt. Grogan
* Mysterious Island (1961) - Sergeant Pencroft
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) - Seaman Matthew Quintal
* The Captive City (1962) - Sgt. Maj. Reed
* Call Me Bwana (1963) - First Henchman
* The Cracksman (1963) - Nosher
* Carry On Jack (1963) - Mister Angel, Bo’sun
* Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963) - Dover Castle Jailer
* Becket (1964) - Baron
* Guns at Batasi (1964) - Colour Sgt. Ben Parkin
* The Counterfeit Constable (1964) - L'agent Baxter
* Carry On Cleo (1964) - Guard (uncredited)
* Joey Boy (1965) - Mad George Long
* Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) - Policeman at Station
* Carry On Cowboy (1965) - Charlie, the Bartender
* One Million Years B.C. (1966) - Sakana
* Tobruk (1967) - Dolan
* Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) - Inspector Great
* The Viking Queen (1967) - Catus
* Casino Royale (1967) - 1st Piper
* Night of the Big Heat (1967) - Gerald Foster
* The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) - Diego
* One More Time (1970) - Mander
* Too Late the Hero (1970) - Sergeant Johnstone
* The Other Reg Varney (1970, TV film) - Various characters
* Captain Apache (1971) - Moon
* Man in the Wilderness (1971) - Fogarty
* Doomwatch (1972) - Constable Hartwell
* Beware My Brethren (1972) - Jim Hudson
* The Fiend (1972) - Commissionaire
* Up the Front (1972) - Cpl. Lovechild
* Black Snake (1973) - Joker Tierney
* The Mackintosh Man (1973) - Taafe
* Craze (1974) - Detective Constable Russet
* One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975) - Mr. Gibbons
* Metamorphosis Alpha (1976, TV film) - Thargon Commander
* Hardcore (1977) - Hubert
* Valentino (1977) - Studio Guard
* The Wild Geese (1978) - Keith
* The London Connection (1979) - Ship's Captain
* The Sea Wolves (1980) - Dennison
* Rules of Justice (1981, TV film) - George Lattimore
* The Love Child (1988) - Maurice