William Hartnell
Full Name- William Henry Hartnell
Birthday- January 8, 1908
Died on – April 23, 1975.
Birth Place- St Pancras, London, England
The First Doctor- Portrayed by William Hartnell
The First Doctor- He is supposed to be an alien from planet Gallifrey. He has a time machine named “TARDIS”, with the help of which he can travel into different time zones and to different worlds. He is a mysterious character. He looks like a normal old man, but is the youngest of the Doctor’s incarnations. He has a grand daughter named Susan Foreman from another time zone and world. Later on, he leaves her in the 22nd century so that she can start her new life in the human world. He has a tremendous knowledge about scientific matters. Due to his forgetfulness, he’s a bit incapable as pilot of “TARDIS” sometimes. He can go to any extent to achieve his targets. He is the one who first meets enemy figures, Daleks and Cybermen. In the end, after defeating Cybermen and Antarctic, he collapses into TARDIS and the second incarnation comes into existence.
Life and Career- He is an English actor. He is best known as the first actor to play the role of First Doctor in long running science fiction “Doctor Who”. He remained in the role from 1963 to 1966. His nears and dears gave him nick name Billy.
He first entered the theatre world in 1925 and worked under Frank Benson. In 1928, he got a role in play titled “Miss Elizabeth’s Prisoner”. In the same play he met his future wife, actress Heather McIntyre and they married after one year of this play. They stayed married till the end of their lives and had one daughter and two grand children.
His film debut was with “Say It With Music” in 1932. He has also served in the Tank corps during the Second World War. After eighteen months of service, he became the victim of nervous breakdown. So he reverted back to acting. Most of the roles of his career were comic roles. His first serious character was perhaps in 1944, in the role of Sergeant in “The Way Ahead”. His work in “Brighten Rock” too brought a lot of praise for him. He has also worked in films “Carry On Sergeant”, “Heavens Above!” and “The Mouse That Roared”.
His first regular TV role was in “The Army Game” as Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore. In 1963, along with “Doctor Who“, he also played a supportive role in film “This Supporting Life” as an ageing Rugby league talent scout. In fact, this role led him to “Doctor Who”. Creator Verity Lambert offered him the title role in the science fiction for the BBC. He revealed in an interview that this role brought him closer to children’s heart. After Lambert’s departure from the show, he found it hard to adjust with the new production team, so he left the show in 1966. His poor health was also one of the reasons to leave the show.
In 1970s, his health problems became the worst. In December, 1974, he was admitted into hospital permanently. He faced a series of strokes due to cerebrovascular disease. Consequently, he died peacefully in his sleep due to heart failure on 23 April, 1975, at the age of 67.
