Cyril Shaps (13 October 1923–1 January 2003) was an English actor born in Highbury, London of Jewish Polish descent, whose short stature and round face led to a steady flow of character roles in film and television for nearly five decades. He led a traditional Jewish life attending synagogue regularly.
Shaps' films included bit parts in a wide range of high profile, international films, including the 1962 Academy Award Best Picture winner Lawrence of Arabia (with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif, as the officer's club bartender), To Sir, with Love (as neighbor Mr. Pinkus), and the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (as Dr. Bechmann). One of his showier turns came in 1994, in The Madness of King George, portraying Dr. Pepys, a royal physician obsessed with the color of His Majesty's stool. In 2002, at the age of 79, he made his final theatrical film appearances, as a pew opener in The Importance of Being Earnest, and a larger role as concentration camp victim Mr. Grun in another Best Picture Oscar winner, The Pianist.
Television work ranged from science fiction (multiple appearances on Doctor Who) to classic literature (in the BBC miniseries of Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend) to detective shows (appearances in Lovejoy, The Saint, and as Emperor Franz Joseph in a 1992 Sherlock Holmes installment). He appeared in two Jim Henson Company television films, Gulliver's Travels (as an elderly madman in Bedlam) and Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (as "Bent Little Man," the peddler who sells beans to the original Jack).
His television appearances, include: Quatermass II, Danger Man, Supercar, The Mask of Janus, The Spies, Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, The Saint, Out of the Unknown, Alexander the Greatest, The Rat Catchers, Man in a Suitcase, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Department S, Doctor Who (in the serials The Tomb of the Cybermen, The Ambassadors of Death, Planet of the Spiders and The Androids of Tara), The Liver Birds, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, The Onedin Line, The Persuaders!, Porridge, The Sweeney, Wilde Alliance, The Young Ones, The Bill, Dark Season, Lovejoy, Midsomer Murders and Doctors.
The son of a tailor, Cyril studied at the London School of Broadcasting aged 12 years. His first professional appearance, at 12, came on Radio Lyons and Radio Luxembourg in such commercials as O.K. Sauce and Quaker Oats. After demob from the Army, he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which was followed by Guildford rep and the West End. He worked in Hollywood for two years with Radio Netherland as English announcer,scriptwriter and producer of programmes. Then came BBC Radio Drama Rep. for two years (1952 - 54). Cyril, whose forebearers were Polish, was the father of three children, Michael, Simon and Sarah.
