Russell Napier

Acting

Russell Napier

Born — Died

1910-11-28 — 1974-08-19

Place of birth

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Known for

Acting

Credits

48 titles

Russell Napier was born in Perth, Western Australia. Originally a lawyer, Napier was active as an actor on the stage as early as 1936; on the screen, from 1947 to 1974, playing both comedic and dramatic roles in both cinema and television. Notably, he starred in a liveBBC television production of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine in 1949; still photographs of this production exist, but no actual footage.

Known for

UFO poster
7.7

A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders.

UFO

1970

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

Justice poster
7.3

Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.

Justice

1971

Man in a Suitcase poster
7.2

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.

Man in a Suitcase

1967

The Human Jungle poster
8.2

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

The Human Jungle

1963

Wire Service poster
9.0

Wire Service is an American drama series that aired on ABC as part of its 1956-57 season lineup.

Wire Service

1956

Film credits

1960s · 11 titles

H.M.S. Defiant poster
6.6

Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.

H.M.S. Defiant

1962

Sink the Bismarck! poster
6.9

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

Sink the Bismarck!

1960

Hell Is a City poster
6.6

Set in Manchester, heartland of England's industrial north, Don Starling escapes from jail becoming England's most wanted man. Ruthless villain Starling together with his cronies engineered a robbery that resulted in the violent death of a young girl. Detective Inspector Martineau has been assigned to hunt him down and bring him in. From seedy barrooms, through gambling dens the trail leads to an explosive climax high on the rooftops of the city.

Hell Is a City

1960

Nobody Runs Forever poster
6.0

Detective Scobie Malone accepts a mission to fly to London to arrest Sir James Quentin, a high-level commissioner wanted down under for murder. But when Malone arrives, he finds that the amiable Quentin is not only the key in groundbreaking peace negotiations, but also the target of an assassin himself.

Nobody Runs Forever

1968

Twisted Nerve poster
6.8

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

Twisted Nerve

1968

The Blood Beast Terror poster
5.5

A scientist working with genetics creates a horrifying flying creature that feeds on human blood. Following a gruesome trail of dead bodies, Scotland Yard investigators must scramble to halt its ravenous rampage.

The Blood Beast Terror

1968

The Angry Silence poster
7.2

When the union in his factory walks out on strike, a family man refuses to participate, risking the wrath — and retaliation — of his fellow workers.

The Angry Silence

1960

Man in the Middle poster
6.5

In a remote jungle outpost in the Far Eastern theater of World War II, a hotheaded American soldier murders an allied British sergeant in cold blood. Stalwart American Lt. Colonel Barney Adams (Mitchum) is dispatched to defend him in the ensuing court martial. But when Lt. Adams starts encountering roadblocks in his search for evidence, and his key witnesses start disappearing one after another, he soon realizes he's merely a pawn in a mysterious conspiracy that could extend to the highest levels of military power.

Man in the Middle

1964

Francis of Assisi poster
7.7

In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.

Francis of Assisi

1961

The Mark poster
6.2

A man who served prison time for intent to molest a child tries to build a new life with the help of a sympathetic psychiatrist.

The Mark

1961

The Hole In The Ground poster
NR

Made at the height of 'cold war' paranoia, this drama-documentary shows the work of the UK Warning and Monitoring Organisation, who's duties included the issuing of public warnings of any nuclear missile strike and the subsequent fallout.

The Hole In The Ground

1962

1950s · 27 titles

A Night to Remember poster
7.7

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.

A Night to Remember

1958

A Town Like Alice poster
6.4

In 1941 Malaysia, the advancing Japanese army captures a lot of British territory very quickly. The men are sent off to labor camps, but they have no plan on what to do with the women and children of the British.

A Town Like Alice

1956

Stolen Face poster
5.8

A plastic surgeon changes the face of a female convict to match that of the beautiful woman who broke his heart and left him. He marries the convict but trouble starts when his true love returns.

Stolen Face

1952

36 Hours poster
6.1

When his wife stops writing to him and his letters are returned unanswered, Dan becomes extremely concerned about her welfare. He returns home but is only able to meet with her briefly before she is found murdered. Dan is the obvious suspect but has only 36 hours to find out who murdered her. In so doing he uncovers a shocking catalogue of his wife's past affairs and an identity that he knew nothing about.

36 Hours

1953

The Unholy Four poster
5.5

Someone knocked out a man and left him for dead during a fishing trip in Portugal. That someone is either his fetching wife, or two business partners, all sporting guilty faces after his unexpected return. Two more murders and a frame-up befall the quartet before an inspector closes the case.

The Unholy Four

1954

The Son of Robin Hood poster
5.3

Ten years after the death of Robin Hood, the bandit of Sherwood Forest and defender of the Crown, the power-mad Duke Simon Des Roches plots to seize the British kingdom from its rightful heir, the boy prince, and only Robin's men stand in his way.

The Son of Robin Hood

1958

Death of an Angel poster
7.5

The angel of the title is Jane Baxter, the wife of country physician Patrick Barr. Everybody in the small British village where she lives thinks the world of Baxter; thus, when she is murdered, the authorities are out for blood. Dr. Barr seems above suspicion, at least until he begins behaving eccentrically. As time passes, most everyone learns that Baxter wasn't quite as angelic as she seemed-and that quite a few people might have wanted her dead.

Death of an Angel

1952

Tread Softly Stranger poster
7.4

Unable to pay his bookie, a man returns to his hometown where his embezzler brother and girlfriend plot a robbery that ends in tragedy.

Tread Softly Stranger

1958

Robbery Under Arms poster
5.2

During the mid 1860s, brothers Dick and Jim Marston are drawn into a life of crime by their ex-convict father Ben and his friend, infamous cattlethief Captain Starlight. Making their way to Melbourne with the proceeds of a recent raid, the brothers meet and romance the Morrison sisters, Kate and Jean, whom they eventually marry; but just as they are poised to start a new life in America, Captain Starlight and his gang arrive in town, planning a raid at the local bank.

Robbery Under Arms

1957

The Saint's Return poster
5.8

A private detective goes after the people who murdered his girlfriend.

The Saint's Return

1953

The Last Man to Hang poster
6.2

A man is tried for the murder of his neurotic wife by means of a sedative overdose.

The Last Man to Hang

1956

The Man in the Road poster
6.4

A brilliant scientist who has lost his memory is hunted by Communist agents out to obtain a secret formula.

The Man in the Road

1956

The Blue Peter poster
7.0

A Merchant Navy hero of the Korean War returns to England after three years of captivity in Communist hands, his mind confused by brain-washing and indoctrination at the hands of his captors, and accepts a post as an instructor at the Outward Bound Sea School.

The Blue Peter

1955

Black Orchid poster
4.9

Caught in a loveless marriage, Dr. John Winnington (Ronald Howard) can't stop himself from falling for his wife's (Mary Laura Wood) younger sister, Christine (Olga Edwardes). But when he suddenly becomes the prime suspect in his wife's tragic murder, John relies on his friend Eric (John Bentley) to clear his name. This classic murder mystery encourages viewers to evaluate all of the clues and guess the killer's identity.

Black Orchid

1953

Conflict of Wings poster
6.2

In rural Norfolk, villagers are spurred to action when it is announced that the nearby RAF station is taking over the Island of Children, a much-loved and untouched bird sanctuary, for rocket practice.

Conflict of Wings

1954

Little Red Monkey poster
6.5

Several murders of nuclear scientists, that baffles Scotland Yard, occur in London around the same time that Bill Locklin, a special officer from the United States State Department, arrives to oversee the transfer of Professor Leon Dushenko, a Russian scientist who has fled the USSR. An attempt on Dushenko's life is made with a monkey's paw-print found at the scene.

Little Red Monkey

1955

Blind Man's Bluff poster
8.0

Young Anthony Pendrell plays the precocious son of Scotland Yard inspector Norman Shelley. Pendrell's efforts to emulate his father usually results in nothing but irritation for his elders. But when a boarding house becomes the headquarters for a criminal gang, it is Pendrell who cracks the case.

Blind Man's Bluff

1952

A Time to Kill poster
7.7

A man and a woman are poisoned. The woman dies, but the man survives. The finger of blame begins to point at the man. A policeman and a newspaper journalist pursue the truth.

A Time to Kill

1955

Guilty? poster
5.5

Convinced that a wartime resistance heroine is innocent of a murder charge, Nap Rumbold, a solicitor / private detective travels to France searching for evidence to clear her name.

Guilty?

1956

The Brain Machine poster
5.7

A British psychiatrist reads an amnesiac's (Maxwell Reed) brain waves and sees the mind of a killer.

The Brain Machine

1955

The Case of The Smiling Widow poster
8.0

From the case files of Scotland Yard, detectives investigate the mysterious death of Peter Adams, artist and possible forger.

The Case of The Smiling Widow

1957

The Narrowing Circle poster
5.8

A journalist is framed for the murder of a rival and has to prove his innocence, whatever the cost.

The Narrowing Circle

1956

The Shiralee poster
5.1

An Australian "swagman" finds his wife with another man, so he takes the daughter, Buster, with him. On the road together, going from town to town and from farm to farm, father and daughter explore new depths of understanding and bonding.

The Shiralee

1957

Deep Dig poster
NR

Pit sinkers prepare the coal mines of tomorrow. An account of shaft sinking techniques.

Deep Dig

1957

The Boy Kumasenu poster
7.0

It tells the story of a boy Kumasenu who moves to the city of Accra from a small fishing village, encouraged by his cousin Agboh's exaggerated tales of the wonders of city life. Hungry, he steals bread and is caught by police, but is rescued by a doctor and his wife who find him work. Agboh attempts to get Kumasenu to rob the doctor, but Kumasenu foils his cousin's plans.

The Boy Kumasenu

1952

No artwork available
10.0

When Scotland Yard detectives investigate the murder of a man in the London airport, the trail leads to Lisbon and a international currency smuggling gang.

Destination Death

1956

The Dark Stairway poster
9.0

A blind man, George Benson, witnesses the murder of Harry Carpenter by Joe Lloyd, but finds himself accused of the murder

The Dark Stairway

1954

Series credits

UFO poster
7.7

A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders.

UFO

1970

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

Justice poster
7.3

Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.

Justice

1971

Man in a Suitcase poster
7.2

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.

Man in a Suitcase

1967

The Human Jungle poster
8.2

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

The Human Jungle

1963

Wire Service poster
9.0

Wire Service is an American drama series that aired on ABC as part of its 1956-57 season lineup.

Wire Service

1956

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Stryker of the Yard

1961

Scotland Yard poster
NR

Scotland Yard was perhaps the best-known series to emerge from Anglo-Amalgamated’s output of crime drama. Shot as cinema support features at the company’s Merton Park Studios in South Wimbledon, these half-hour thrillers – based on real-life cases from the vaults of London’s Metropolitan Police headquarters – were a successful regular feature in cinemas over nearly a decade from the early 1950s onwards. Like sister series Scales of Justice, Scotland Yard is introduced by celebrated writer and criminologist Edgar Lustgarten and presents case after intriguing case, with many solved onscreen by the redoubtable Inspector Duggan (played by Australian-born Russell Napier).

Scotland Yard

1953

Scotland Yard poster
NR

Scotland Yard was perhaps the best-known series to emerge from Anglo-Amalgamated’s output of crime drama. Shot as cinema support features at the company’s Merton Park Studios in South Wimbledon, these half-hour thrillers – based on real-life cases from the vaults of London’s Metropolitan Police headquarters – were a successful regular feature in cinemas over nearly a decade from the early 1950s onwards. Like sister series Scales of Justice, Scotland Yard is introduced by celebrated writer and criminologist Edgar Lustgarten and presents case after intriguing case, with many solved onscreen by the redoubtable Inspector Duggan (played by Australian-born Russell Napier).

Scotland Yard

1953