About Simon Jones (actor)
Simon Jones is an English actor. He is best known for originating the role of Arthur Dent, protagonist of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He also played the role of Donald Shellhammer in Miracle on 34th Street (1994), appeared in Brideshead Revisited (1981) as Lord Brideshead, and as King George V in the film Downton Abbey (2019), and as Bannister in The Gilded Age. The latter project, a radio broadcast from 1978, would be the first of Jones's several portrayals of Arthur Dent; Adams claimed to Jones that he wrote the part of Dent with him in mind. Jones is also a voice actor and audiobook narrator, with more than 70 titles to his credit.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.