11 Facts About Frederick Piper

Frederick Piper was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years.

Never a leading player, Frederick Piper was usually cast in minor, sometimes uncredited, parts although he appeared in some more substantial supporting roles.

Frederick Piper never aspired to star-status, but became a recognisable face on the British screen through the sheer volume of films in which he appeared.

Frederick Piper's credits include a number of films which are considered classics of British cinema, among them five 1930s Alfred Hitchcock films; he appeared in many Ealing Studios productions, including some of the celebrated Ealing comedies.

Frederick Piper has appeared in theatrical productions in the West End alongside his screen roles.

An unassuming man with no trappings of ambition or conceit, Frederick Piper rapidly earned a reputation as a reliable, congenial presence on set and became a first choice for directors with smaller roles to cast, accumulating screen credits at the rate of up to six a year through to the 1960s.

Frederick Piper appeared as an extra in Hitchcock's 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much, and the following year was cast again by Hitchcock in the role of the milkman in the famous scene with Robert Donat in The 39 Steps.

Frederick Piper was only on screen for seconds, but the iconic nature of the scene ultimately made this probably his most famous film appearance.

Frederick Piper's services were always in demand, and he is said to have once joked that he had cornered the market in unnamed police officers and barmen.

Frederick Piper lived in Windsor, Berkshire from the 1940s and was married to the theatre director Joan Riley; their son, Mark Frederick Piper, became a theatre director.

Frederick Piper died on 22 September 1979, one day short of his 77th birthday.