Trivia

Rotund, gently-voiced English character actor, often seen playing benevolent, occasionally pompous, authority figures, clergymen or physicians.

He twice played a doctor to the King of England: first in The Madness of King George (1994) and finally in The King's Speech (2010) (to Prince Albert who would become king). In both instances, the role called for an establishment doctor whose prescriptions didn't work.

He grew up in Stockport, Lancashire.

Son of a chartered account who owned and managed a family business, R.P. Lawson & Sons, dyers and bleachers in the cotton mill industry.

Attended Bryanston School, Dorset, where he first appeared in school plays. Subsequently acted on the BBC radio Children's Hour and at the Library Theatre in Manchester. On stage in classical drama at the Marlowe Society, afterwards completing his training at RADA and making his theatrical debut in London in 1963.