John Shrapnel

John Morley Shrapnel (27 April 1942 – 14 February 2020) was an English actor. He is known mainly for his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and for his many television appearances. One of his well-known roles was Mr. Skinner in the 1996 live-action film 101 Dalmatians.

Shrapnel was born John Morley Shrapnel in Birmingham, Warwickshire (now West Midlands) on 27 April 1942, the son of journalist / author Norman Shrapnel and Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards).[1]

Shrapnel was brought up in Stockport and London, being educated at Mile End School, Stockport where he started acting as a member of the school’s drama society, and the City of London School,[2] an independent school for boys in the City of London, where he played Hamlet in the School Play, followed by St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he obtained an MA.[