Robert Hardy (1925-2017) was a British character actor who appeared in Gulliver's Travels as Bedlam adminstrator Dr. Parnell. Hardy frequently played historical personages, ranging from Winston Churchill (multiple times) and Benito Mussolini to Prince Albert.
In films, he played Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies and appeared in Young Winston (co-starring Anne Bancroft), Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein, and the 2005 version of Lassie.
On television, Hardy starred as Dr. Siegfried Farnon on All Creatures Great and Small and guest starred on Mrs. Columbo, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (as master blackmailer Charles Augustus Milverton), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Upstairs, Downstairs. The latter was one of seven appearances Hardy made on Masterpiece Theatre showcases.