Peter Cellier

Peter François Cellier, born on 12 July 1928 in Hendon, Middlesex, is a retired English actor whose career has spanned film, stage, and television. He comes from a theatrical family: his father was actor Frank Cellier, his mother was Phyllis Shannaw, and his half-sister was Antoinette Cellier. His grandfather was François Cellier, the conductor associated with Gilbert and Sullivan productions.

Cellier began his professional stage career at the Leatherhead Theatre in 1953. His theatre work took him to prominent British institutions including seasons at Stratford-on-Avon, the Old Vic, and the Chichester Festival Theatre. He was also a founder-member of the National Theatre. In 1958, he appeared on Broadway in three productions: the comedy Twelfth Night, King Henry V, and Hamlet. His stage work encompassed a wide range of Shakespeare plays, among them The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, King John, Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, and Henry V, in which he played the Dauphin. Non-Shakespearean stage roles included Danforth in The Crucible, Polonius in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Dr Finache in Jacques Charon's National Theatre production of Feydeau's A Flea in Her Ear, Sir John Tremaine in Me and My Girl, Miguel Estete in The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and Captain Brazen in The Recruiting Officer, a role in which he replaced Laurence Olivier.

On television, Cellier's career extended back to 1955 and covered a broad range of genres. He appeared in detective series including Softly, Softly and Bergerac, the adventure series Doctor Who, and historical dramas such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Upstairs, Downstairs, and The Duchess of Duke Street. He made multiple appearances in John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey, including a guest role as a defence department official in the episode "Rumpole and the Official Secret," and appeared in three episodes of Paradise Postponed as solicitor Mr Rattling. He is perhaps best known to television audiences for playing Sir Frank Gordon, the Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury, in Yes Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister, a role he held from 1981 to 1987. In that capacity, his character contended with Nigel Hawthorne's Sir Humphrey Appleby for influence within the civil service. He also appeared as Major Wilton-Smythe in Keeping Up Appearances from 1990 to 1991, and had roles in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Casualty, playing Roy Difford in the episode "The Silence of Friends." In 2010, he played the judge in the BBC Four production Canoe Man, which dramatized the John Darwin disappearance case.

Cellier's film work began in 1966 with Morgan!, in which he played Second Counsel. Subsequent film appearances included Young Winston (1972) as Captain 35th Sikhs, Luther (1974) as the Prior, Barry Lyndon (1975) as Sir Richard, Jabberwocky (1977) as First Merchant, and Chariots of Fire (1981) as the head waiter at The Savoy. He portrayed W. S. Gilbert in the 1983 film The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan, which depicted Gilbert and Sullivan reuniting to watch a performance of their songs at the Royal Albert Hall. Later film credits included A Room with a View (1985) as landlord Sir Harry Otway, Howards End (1992) as Colonel Fussell, The Remains of the Day (1993) as Sir Leonard Bax, and Ladies in Lavender (2004) as a BBC Announcer.

Cellier married Nonie Pashley in 1950. He was widowed on 4 April 2016.