Editing Alan Napier (section)

==Early life and career==
Alan William Napier-Clavering was born on 7 January 1903 in Birmingham to Claude Gerald Napier-Clavering, managing director of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft,<ref>The Kelmscott Press: A History of William Morris's , William S. Peterson, 1991, p. 157</ref> and Millicent Mary, daughter of politician [[William Kenrick (Birmingham MP)|William Kenrick]]. He had two older siblings, Mark (born 1898) and Mary Helen- "Molly"- (born 1900).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Napier |first1=Alan |last2=Bigwood |first2=James |title=Not Just Batman's Butler: The Autobiography of Alan Napier |location=Jefferson, N.C. |publisher=[[McFarland & Co.]] |date=24 September 2015 |isbn=9781476662879 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUbJCgAAQBAJ |pages=8–9, 15}}</ref> The Napier-Clavering family were landed gentry- the senior line owning Axwell Park near [[Gateshead]] until 1920- and descended from [[Francis Napier, 8th Lord Napier]].<ref>A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage, and Companionage, 92nd edition, vol. 2, Burke's Peerage, 1934, p. 1760</ref>

Napier was a first cousin-once removed of [[Neville Chamberlain]],<ref>{{cite news |title="Good Old Neville" Draws Support from Actor-Cousin |newspaper=Bradford Evening Star |agency=[[United Press]] |date=9 May 1940 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1317517/alan_napiers_support_for_his_cousin/ |via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> Britain's prime minister from 1937 to 1940. He was educated at [[Packwood Haugh School]] and,<ref>{{cite web |title=After Packwood |url=http://www.packwood-haugh.co.uk/information/old-packwoodians/after-packwood.../ |website=[[Packwood Haugh School]] |access-date=26 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919134234/http://www.packwood-haugh.co.uk/information/old-packwoodians/after-packwood.../ |archive-date=19 September 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> after leaving [[Clifton College]],<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. pp446/77: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948.</ref> he studied at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]], graduating in 1925.<ref>{{cite web |title=Student & Graduate profiles |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/?q=1925&page=4 |website=[[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] |access-date=19 March 2022}}</ref>

Napier was engaged by the Oxford Players, where he worked with the likes of [[John Gielgud]] and [[Robert Morley]]. As Napier recalled, his "ridiculously tall" {{convert|6|ft|6|in}} height<ref>{{Cite news
 | last1 = Oldham
 | first1 = Michael
 | title = 'Batman' Butler Alan Napier's Castellammare Home
 | newspaper = [[Palisadian-Post]]
 | location = [[Pacific Palisades, California]]
 | date = 8 November 2018
 | url = https://www.palipost.com/batman-butler-alan-napiers-castellammare-home/
 | access-date = 28 December 2019
 | url-access = subscription}}</ref> almost cost him his position immediately after he secured it. [[J. B. Fagan]] had dismissed [[Tyrone Guthrie]] because he was too tall for most parts.<ref name="Eagle">{{cite news |title=Alan Napier Gets There in Spite of Skyscraper Effect |newspaper=[[Brooklyn Eagle|Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |date=5 May 1940 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1313488/alan_napier_is_tall/ |via = [[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> Napier was interviewed (and accepted) as Guthrie's replacement while sitting down. Fagan realized that Napier was even taller than Guthrie when he stood up, but honoured his commitment.<ref name="Eagle" /> Napier performed for ten years (1929–1939) on the West End stage. Napier described himself as having a particular affinity for the work of [[George Bernard Shaw]], and in 1937 appeared in a London revival of ''[[Heartbreak House]]'' supervised by Shaw himself.<ref name="page199" />

Napier made his American stage debut as the romantic lead opposite [[Gladys George]] in ''Lady in Waiting''.<ref name="Eagle" /> Though his film career had begun in Britain in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he joined the British expatriate community in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in 1941. There he spent time with such people as [[James Whale]], a fellow ex-Oxford Player. He appeared in such films as ''[[Random Harvest (film)|Random Harvest]]'' (1942), ''[[Cat People (1942 film)|Cat People]]'' (1942), and ''[[The Uninvited (1944 film)|The Uninvited]]'' (1944). In ''[[The Song of Bernadette (film)|The Song of Bernadette]]'' (1943), he played the ethically questionable psychiatrist who is hired to declare Bernadette mentally ill.  He also played the vicious Earl of Warwick in ''[[Joan of Arc (1948 film)|Joan of Arc]]'' (1948).  He performed in two [[Shakespeare]]an films: the [[Orson Welles]] ''[[Macbeth (1948 film)|Macbeth]]'' (1948), in which he played a priest that Welles added to the story, who spoke lines originally uttered by other characters, and [[MGM]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar (1953 film)|Julius Caesar]]'' (1953), as [[Cicero]]. He appeared as Mr. Rutland in the Hitchcock movie ''[[Marnie (film)|Marnie]]'' (1964).

In 1949, Napier made an appearance on the short-lived [[television anthology series]] ''[[Your Show Time]]'' as [[Sherlock Holmes]], in an adaptation of "[[The Adventure of the Speckled Band]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Barnes|first=Alan| authorlink=Alan Barnes (writer) |title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |year=2011 |publisher=[[Titan Books]]|page=311 |isbn=9780857687760}}</ref> In the 1950s, he appeared on TV in four episodes of ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' and guest starred on [[Dale Robertson]]'s [[NBC]] [[Western (genre)|western]] series ''[[Tales of Wells Fargo]]''. He had a recurring role as General Steele on the 1962–1963 situation comedy ''[[Don't Call Me Charlie!]]''