20 Facts About Alan Napier

Alan William Napier-Clavering, better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor.

Alan Napier was a first cousin-once removed of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940.

Alan Napier was educated at Packwood Haugh School and, after leaving Clifton College, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1925.

Alan Napier was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with the likes of John Gielgud and Robert Morley.

Alan Napier was interviewed as Guthrie's replacement while sitting down.

Fagan realized that Alan Napier was even taller than Guthrie when he stood up, but honoured his commitment.

Alan Napier performed for ten years on the West End stage.

Alan Napier described himself as having a particular affinity for the work of George Bernard Shaw, and in 1937 appeared in a London revival of Heartbreak House supervised by Shaw himself.

Alan Napier made his American stage debut as the romantic lead opposite Gladys George in Lady in Waiting.

Alan Napier appeared in such films as Random Harvest, Cat People, and The Uninvited.

Alan Napier played the vicious Earl of Warwick in Joan of Arc.

Alan Napier performed in two Shakespearean films: the Orson Welles Macbeth, in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and MGM's Julius Caesar, as Cicero.

Alan Napier appeared as Mr Rutland in the Hitchcock movie Marnie.

In 1949, Alan Napier made an appearance on the short-lived television anthology series Your Show Time as Sherlock Holmes, in an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band".

In 1965, Alan Napier was the first to be cast in the Batman TV series, as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played until the series' cancellation in 1968.

Alan Napier's career extended into the 1980s with roles on television, including the miniseries QB VII, The Bastard, and Centennial, and the drama The Paper Chase.

In early 1988, Alan Napier appeared on the late-night talk show The Late Show as part of a reunion of the surviving cast of Batman, despite being in a wheelchair.

Alan Napier did not participate in the subsequent cast reunion held before his death.

Alan Napier's second wife, Aileen Dickens Hawksley, was a great-granddaughter of novelist Charles Dickens.

Alan Napier suffered a stroke in 1987, was hospitalized from June 1988, and was gravely ill for several days before his death of natural causes on 8 August 1988, in the Berkeley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, California.