- Born
- Died
- Height1.83 m
- The massive brooding face and nose of British actor Percy Herbert is familiar to movie goers and TV audiences alike. A seemingly unlikely stage discovery by no one less than the great Dame Sybil Thorndike of British theater, Herbert moved into movie roles by the early 1950s. Initially fitting in as a featured cockney character, he nevertheless moved on to a wide variety of roles, especially as British and American soldier characters, some notable early ones being in Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (1957) and Les Canons de Navarone (1961). An interesting coincidence was that his character name was Grogan in both movies - though he was promoted from a private in the first movie to a sergeant in the second.
He always seemed at home, lending a believable accent and memorable presence to such as: the menacing baron who joins in the killing of Archbishop Thomas Becket, Richard Burton, in Becket (1964), the hapless Confederate soldier-with a broad southern accent of L'Île mystérieuse (1961), the sensible Scots-American deputy Mac Gregor in TV's short-lived Cimarron Strip (1968) with Stuart Whitman. In the course of over 90 film appearances, Herbert fitted in and lent to genres from fantasy and horror to history and drama with a sort of sturdy and matter-of-fact competence which makes him a most memorable big and small screen presence.- IMDb mini biography by: William McPeak
- SpouseAmy Lindsay(1947 - December 6, 1992) (his death, 3 children)
- ChildrenKatrina HerbertVanessa Herbert
- Stubborn Working Class Characters; Bulbous Nose
- There were 2 children not 3 Vanessa and Katrina Herbert only not Colin
- It was his idea that the marching POWs whistle "The Colonel Bogey March" in Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (1957).
- Because he had first-hand experience of Japanese POW camps, he was paid an extra £5.00 per week by David Lean to act as a consultant on Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï (1957).
- A British soldier in World War II, he was captured by the Japanese army and interned in a POW camp for 4 years. He once spent six months in the cooler for stealing a tin of corned beef.
- Made his first stage appearance in Julius Caesar at Stratford.
- Children Vanessa, Colin, Katrina.
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