Martin Jarvis

Martin Jarvis OBE is an English actor born on 4 August 1941 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, to Denys Harry Jarvis and Margot Lillian Scottney. He grew up in South Norwood and Sanderstead in north Surrey. Jarvis was educated at Whitgift School, an independent school in South Croydon, before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he earned the Vanbrugh Award and the silver medal.

Jarvis made his Broadway debut in 2001, playing the title character in By Jeeves, the musical based on P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories. The performance earned him a Theatre World Award in 2002. His stage work extends across London and international venues, encompassing productions such as Woman in Mind and Henceforward... by Alan Ayckbourn, Other Places by Harold Pinter, Exchange by Michael Frayn, and The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, in which he appeared opposite Judi Dench. In 2006, he performed alongside Diana Rigg and Natascha McElhone in Joanna Murray-Smith's Honour at London's Wyndham's Theatre.

Jarvis first appeared on British television in 1965, playing Hilio, captain of the Menoptra, in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who. He returned to the programme twice, as Dr. Butler in Invasion of the Dinosaurs in 1974 and as the governor of the planet Varos in Vengeance on Varos in 1985. He became widely recognized through a series of prominent BBC television roles, including Jon in the 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, the title character in a 1968 serial of Nicholas Nickleby, Uriah Heep in the 1974 version of David Copperfield, and the male lead opposite Diane Keen in the sitcom Rings on Their Fingers, which ran from 1978 to 1980. In 1993, he starred alongside Ewan McGregor and Rachel Weisz in a BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black, and he was the subject of BBC television's This Is Your Life in 1999. His American television credits include Murder, She Wrote, Walker Texas Ranger, Stargate Atlantis, Numb3rs, and a brief appearance as George VI in the ABC miniseries Ike: The War Years. In 2014, he appeared in an episode of Law and Order: UK as Eddie Stewart, and in September 2022 he appeared alongside his wife in an episode of the BBC soap opera Doctors.

Jarvis has maintained a long and prolific association with BBC Radio 4. In the 1980s he performed adaptations of Michael Frayn's columns for The Guardian and The Observer, and he has appeared regularly in radio dramas and readings across comic and serious genres. He is particularly known for his extensive readings of Richmal Crompton's Just William stories and has also narrated the Billy Bunter series by Frank Richards. His ubiquity on Radio 4 led to him being satirised on the programme Dead Ringers by Mark Perry. Jarvis has performed the role of Jeeves in multiple radio productions of Wodehouse's stories, including the 1997 L.A. Theatre Works adaptation of The Code of the Woosters, the 2014 BBC radio adaptation of Ring for Jeeves, and the 2018 BBC radio adaptation of Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves, as well as the intermittent series Jeeves Live!, which ran from 2007 to 2020. In 2011, he appeared in a Radio 4 production of Terence Rattigan's In Praise of Love. Together with his wife, actress Rosalind Ayres, Jarvis performs frequently in audio drama with L.A. Theater Works and Hollywood Theater of the Ear, and the two operate the radio production company Jarvis and Ayres Productions, which works regularly with BBC Radio 4.

Jarvis has undertaken extensive voice work across audiobooks, animation, film, and video games. He won the Audie Award for his audiobook recordings of P. G. Wodehouse's works and has narrated titles including the 2011 audiobook of Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant and Wilbur Smith's The Leopard Hunts in Darkness. In animation, he voiced characters in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, and provided voiceovers for the 2010 BBC series Just William. In film, he appeared in Disney's 2012 release Wreck-It Ralph as Saitine. His video game credits include the role of The Chronicler in the Spyro the Dragon series beginning in 2007, Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, a voice-over role in Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2011, and Alfred Pennyworth across multiple entries in the Batman: Arkham series, beginning with Batman: Arkham City in 2011 and continuing through Batman: Arkham Shadow in 2024.

Jarvis married Rosalind Ayres on 23 November 1974 in Ealing; the two had met while performing in Hamlet, in which Ayres played Ophelia. He has two sons from a previous marriage. Jarvis has homes in West Hollywood and London. He was awarded the OBE in 2000 and has published a memoir titled Acting Strangely: A Funny Kind of Life.