Biography

A tall, distinguished-looking English character actor with aristocratic bearing and a precisely modulated voice, Alan William Napier-Clavering was born in Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England. A cousin of the former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (graduating in 1925) and spent his formative years as an actor with Oxford Repertory and, from 1924, on the London stage. During the 1930s, he found his niche in Shakespearean roles. His characterisation of Menenius in a 1954 Boston revival of "Coriolanus" was described in the Christian Science Monitor (January 23, 1954) as imbued with "benevolent distinction and with some of the comic quality of the part". However, by that time, Napier had largely forsaken the stage for the screen.

In 1939, Alan Napier immigrated to America and, in the course of nearly five decades, appeared in film and on television as noblemen, manservants and doctors. His gaunt, suave, sometimes bespectacled characters could be kindly or nefarious. He gave good support in the supernatural thriller The Uninvited (1944) and lent gravitas to his role of Cicero in Julius Caesar (1953). Baby boomer TV audiences will remember him fondly as Bruce Wayne's ever reliable, and very English, butler Alfred Pennyworth in Batman (1966), starring Adam West. Napier's second wife, Aileen Dickens Bouchier Hawksley (nicknamed "Gypsy"), was a great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Alan Napier died at age 85 of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California on August 8, 1988.
- IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

A rich, smooth voice with an aristocratic bearing

A towering height and a slender frame

I had never read comics before I [was hired for Batman (1966)]. My agent rang up and said, "I think you are going to play on Batman." I said, "What is Batman?" He said, "Don't you read the comics?" I said, "No, never." He said, "I think you are going to be Batman's butler." I said, "How do I know I want to be Batman's butler?" It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of. He said, "It may be worth over $100,000." So I said, "I was Batman's butler.".

I was actually the first person hired for Batman before Batman or Robin or anybody, because Charles FitzSimons was an associate of my agent years before and had moved on to be Doziers assistant. He, for some reason envisioned me as Alfred because, after all, what I did as Alfred was quite different from what was written.

[on working with Burt Ward]: I understand why Burt Ward was cast. He was 21 but sounded like he was 15. I remember a time where we was doing some soundtrack dubbing, which he had to do several times and complained that he was loosing his voice. So I said to him, 'After all this nonsense is over, I will teach you to talk and perhaps even act!' He replied, 'GEE, am I that awful?'. Burt was a nice boy really.