Richard Vernon

Richard Evelyn Vernon (7 March 1925 – 4 December 1997) was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles. For example as Colonel Loring, a misplaced idealist responsible for the disappearance of a whole village in the Pied Piper of Hambledown episode in the classic spy-fi Department S.

Prematurely balding and greying, Vernon settled into playing archetypal middle-aged lords and military types while still in his 30s. He played Slartibartfast in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the lead role of Edwin Oldenshaw in The Man in Room 17 (1965–67), the mutton-chopped Major Smith-Barton in The Duchess of Duke Street (1976-77), Sir James Greenley alias "C" in The Sandbaggers (1978–80), and Sir Desmond Glazebrook in Yes Minister (1980–81) and its sequel series Yes, Prime Minister (1987).