William Hartnell

William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908[1] – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. While Hartnell made numerous stage and television appearances and acted in over 75 British films, he is best remembered today as the First Doctor in BBC Television's Doctor Who, which he played from 1963 to 1966.[2] He was also well known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and as Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 to 1961.

For the Californian (1798-1854), see William Edward Petty Hartnell.

William Hartnell
William Hartnell in a publicity photo
Born	(1908-01-08)8 January 1908 St Pancras, London, England
Died	23 April 1975(1975-04-23) (aged 67) Marden, Kent, England
Years active	1925–1973
Spouse(s)	Heather McIntyre ( m. 1929)
Children	1

Early life

William Henry Hartnell was born on 8 January 1908 in the slums of the district of St Pancras, London, England, the only child of Lucy Hartnell, an unmarried mother.[3] Hartnell never discovered the identity of his father, whose particulars were left blank on his birth certificate, despite his efforts to trace him.[4] In various interviews, he claimed that he was born in Seaton, Devon, and that his father was a dairy farmer and later was a soldier turned stockbroker.[5]

He was brought up partly by a foster mother, and also spent many holidays in Devon with his mother's family of farmers, from whom he learned to ride horses.[6] Reportedly, Hartnell had a fall and was kicked by a horse. An unspecified person applied disinfectant to the open wound in an apparent attempt to cleanse it. The disinfectant however was of a type unsuitable for first aid purposes and caused blisters. The end result was a worse wound than would otherwise be the case.[7] This left him with a large scar on his temple, which is actually visible in some of his stills shots even though it was covered with make-up during filming.[6] He was a second cousin of the fashion designer Norman Hartnell.[8]

He left school without prospects and dabbled in petty crime.[2][9] At the age of 16, Hartnell met the art collector Hugh Blaker, who later became his unofficial guardian, arranged for him to train as a jockey and helped him to enter the Italia Conti Academy.[10] Theatre being a passion of Blaker's, he paid for Hartnell to receive some "polish" at the Imperial Service College, though Hartnell found the strictures too much and ran away.[6] When Hartnell married, he and his wife continued to live in one of Blaker's adjacent properties at Isleworth; their first child, Heather, was born there in 1929.[11]

Career

Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925[6] working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand.[2][12] He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays, including The Merchant of Venice (1926), Julius Caesar (1926), As You Like It (1926), Hamlet (1926), The Tempest (1926) and Macbeth (1926). He also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer (1926), The School for Scandal (1926) and Good Morning, Bill (1927), before performing in Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner (1928). This play was written by Robert Neilson Stephens and E. Lyall Swete. It featured the actress Heather McIntyre,[13] whom he married during the following year.[10] His first of more than 60 film appearances was in Say It With Music (1932).

Radio work also featured in his career, with his earliest known performance – in a production of Chinese Moon Party – being broadcast by the BBC on 11 May 1931.[14]

From the outbreak of the Second World War, Hartnell attempted to volunteer for the RAF.[15] He served in the British Army in the Tank Corps, but he was invalided out after 18 months as the result of suffering a nervous breakdown and returned to acting.[10] In 1942 he was cast as Albert Fosdike in Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve. He turned up late for his first day of shooting, and Coward berated him in front of the cast and crew for his unprofessionalism, made him personally apologise to everyone and then sacked him. Michael Anderson, who was the first assistant director, took over the part (and was credited as "Mickey Anderson").[16]

Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead (1944).[12] From then on his career was defined by playing mainly policemen, soldiers and thugs. This typecasting bothered him, for even when he was cast in comedies he found he invariably played the "heavy". In 1958 he played the sergeant in the first Carry On comedy film, Carry On Sergeant. He appeared as Will Buckley, another military character, in the film The Mouse That Roared (1959), which starred Peter Sellers, and he played a town councillor in the Boulting brothers' film Heavens Above! (1963), again with Sellers.

His first regular role on television was as Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in The Army Game in 1957. He left after the first season and returned for the final season in 1961. Again, although it was a comedy series, he found himself cast in a "tough guy" role. He also appeared in a supporting role in the film version of This Sporting Life (1963), giving a sensitive performance as an ageing rugby league talent scout known as "Dad".[12]

Hartnell described himself as "a legitimate actor. I do legitimate things".[17]

Doctor Who

Hartnell's performance in This Sporting Life was noted by Verity Lambert, the producer who was setting up a new science-fiction television series for the BBC entitled Doctor Who; mainly on the strength of that performance, Lambert offered him the title role. Although Hartnell was initially uncertain about accepting a part in what was pitched to him as a children's series, in part due to his success in films,[18][19] Lambert and director Waris Hussein convinced him to take the part, and it became the character for which he gained the highest profile and is now most remembered. Hartnell later revealed that he took the role because it led him away from the gruff, military parts in which he had become typecast, and, having two grandchildren of his own, he came to relish particularly the attention and affection that playing the character brought him from children. His first episode of Doctor Who was aired on 23 November 1963.[20]

Doctor Who earned Hartnell a regular salary of £315 an episode by 1966 (in the era of 48 weeks per year production on the series), equivalent to £5,911 in 2019. By comparison, in 1966 his co-stars Anneke Wills and Michael Craze were earning £68 and £52 per episode at the same time, respectively.[21] Throughout his tenure as the Doctor, William Hartnell wore a wig when playing the part, as the character had long hair.[22]

William Hartnell described his character the Doctor as "a wizard", and "a cross between the Wizard of Oz and Father Christmas".[23] According to William Russell, Hartnell deliberately became occasionally tongue-tied and stumbled over words.[24]

According to some of his colleagues on Doctor Who, Hartnell could be a difficult person to work with, though others, Russell and Peter Purves,[25] and the producer Verity Lambert, spoke glowingly of him. Among the more caustic accounts, Nicholas Courtney and Anneke Wills have accused Hartnell of being racist[26] or anti-Semitic,[27][28] though these are, by most accounts, frequently challenged by his love for his co-workers of different backgrounds. According to his granddaughter Jessica Carney, who wrote his biography, Hartnell could be very bigoted and often came out with xenophobic comments but "all those loudly expressed opinions were contradicted by his behaviour on a personal level". Hartnell adored Carole Ann Ford and Verity Lambert who were both Jewish, and had great respect for Waris Hussein, who was Indian.[6][29][30] According to Val Speyer, although Hartnell claimed not to like foreigners, "as one of his greatest friends on the show was half Greek and half Maltese, I didn't see how this could figure. However, if he liked someone, they weren't a foreigner, they were a friend!"[30]

Hartnell's deteriorating health (he suffered from undiagnosed arteriosclerosis) began to affect his ability to learn his lines, with the problem increasing as his time on the series progressed.[31] In addition, he had a poor relationship with a new production team on the series following the departure of Verity Lambert. He left Doctor Who in 1966.[22][32] When he departed the producer of the show came up with the idea that, since the Doctor is an alien, he could transform himself physically, thereby renewing himself. Hartnell suggested the actor who should play the new Doctor, stating that "There's only one man in England who can take over, and that's Patrick Troughton."[33] In the fourth episode of the serial The Tenth Planet the First Doctor regenerates into Troughton's Second Doctor.[34]

Many of Hartnell's episodes are missing from the BBC archives as a result of the BBC's purge of old shows during the early 1970s.

Hartnell reprised the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who during the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors (1972–73). When Hartnell's wife Heather found out about his planned involvement, she informed the show's crew that his failing memory and weakening health would prevent him from starring in the special. An agreement was made between the crew and Heather that Hartnell would sit down during the shoot and read his lines from cue cards.[35] His appearance in this story was his final piece of work as an actor.[36]

Later life and death

Hartnell's health had worsened during the early 1970s, and in December 1974 he was admitted to hospital permanently. In early 1975 he suffered a series of strokes brought on by cerebrovascular disease, and he died in his sleep of heart failure on 23 April 1975, at the age of 67.[37] He was cremated and his ashes are buried at the Kent and Sussex Crematorium and Cemetery.

Hartnell was married to Heather McIntyre from 9 May 1929 until his death. They had one child, a daughter, Heather Anne,[2] and two grandchildren.[21] After living at 51 Church Street, Isleworth, next door to Hugh Blaker, the Hartnells lived on Thames Ditton Island. Then in the 1960s they moved to a cottage in Mayfield, Sussex. They lived in later life at Sheephurst Lane in Marden, Kent. Heather Hartnell died in 1984.[38]

The only published biography of him is by his granddaughter, Judith "Jessica" Carney, entitled Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell. It was first published in 1996 by Virgin Publishing. To mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who Carney, with Fantom Publishing, revised and republished the book in 2013.[39]

For the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013 the BBC broadcast An Adventure in Space and Time, a dramatisation of the events surrounding the creation of the series, which featured David Bradley portraying Hartnell.[40][41][42]

A blue plaque marking Hartnell's work in film and television was unveiled at Ealing Studios by his granddaughter, Jessica Carney, on 14 October 2018.[43]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	Say It with Music		film debut
1933	The Lure	Billy
	I'm an Explosive	Edward Whimperley
	Follow the Lady	Mike Martindale
1934	Seeing Is Believing	Ronald Gibson
	The Perfect Flaw	Vickers
	Swinging the Lead	Freddy Fordum
1935	Old Faithful	Minor role	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	While Parents Sleep	George
	The Guv'nor	Car salesman	Uncredited
1936	The Crimson Circle	Minor role	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	The Shadow of Mike Emerald	Unknown	Uncredited
	Midnight at Madame Tussaud's	Stubbs	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	La Vie parisienne	Unknown
	Nothing Like Publicity	Pat Spencer	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
1937	Farewell Again	Minor role	Uncredited
1938	They Drive by Night	Bus Conductor	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
1939	Too Dangerous to Live	Minor role
	Murder Will Out	Dick
1940	They Came by Night	Minor role	Uncredited
1941	Freedom Radio	Radio Location Aerial Operator	Uncredited
1942	Flying Fortress	Gaylord Parker	Uncredited
	They Flew Alone	Scotty	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	Suspected Person	Detective Saunders
	The Goose Steps Out	German Officer at Station	Uncredited
	Sabotage at Sea	Jacob Digby
	The Peterville Diamond	Joseph	Credited as "Bill Hartnell"
1943	The Bells Go Down	Brookes	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	The Dark Tower	Jim Powers	Credited as "Bill Hartnell"
	Headline	Dell
1944	The Way Ahead	Sgt. Ned Fletcher	Credited as "Billy Hartnell"
	Strawberry Roan	Chris Lowe
1945	The Agitator	Peter Pettinger
	Murder in Reverse	Tom Masterick
1946	Appointment with Crime	Leo Martin
1947	Odd Man Out	Fencie
	Temptation Harbour	Jim Brown
1948	Brighton Rock	Dallow
	Escape	Inspector Harris
1949	Now Barabbas	Warder Jackson
	The Lost People	Barnes
1950	Double Confession	Charlie Durham
1951	The Dark Man	Police Superintendent
1952	The Magic Box	Recruiting Sergeant
	The Pickwick Papers	Irate Cabman
	The Ringer	Sam Hackett
	The Holly and the Ivy	The Company Sergeant-Major (C.S.M.)
1953	Will Any Gentleman...?	Detective Inspector (D.I.) Martin
1955	Footsteps in the Fog	Herbert Moseby
	Josephine and Men	Detective Sgt.(D.S.) Parsons
1956	Private's Progress	Sergeant Sutton
	Doublecross	Herbert Whiteway
	Tons of Trouble	Bert
1957	Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst	Leading Seaman Frank
	Hell Drivers	Cartley
	The Hypnotist	Detective Inspector Ross
	Date with Disaster	Tracey
1958	On the Run	Tom Casey
	Carry On Sergeant	Sergeant Grimshawe
1959	Shake Hands with the Devil	Sergeant Jenkins
	The Mouse That Roared	Sergeant-at-Arms Will Buckley
	The Night We Dropped a Clanger	Sergeant Bright
	Strictly Confidential	Grimshaw
1960	And the Same to You	Walter "Wally" Burton
	Piccadilly Third Stop	Colonel
	Jackpot	Superintendent Frawley
1962	Tomorrow at Ten	Freddie Maddox
1963	This Sporting Life	'Dad' Johnson
	Heavens Above!	Major Fowler
	Tomorrow at Ten	Freddie Maddox
	The World Ten Times Over	Dad
	Edgar Wallace Mysteries: To Have and to Hold	Insp. Roberts	US Television: The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre 4:15

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents	Christy	Season 3, Episode 28: "The Auction"
	London Playhouse	Kenyon	Season 1, Episode 7: "The Inward Eye"
1956	The Errol Flynn Theatre	Himself	Season 1, Episode 13: "The Red Geranium"
1957	A Santa For Christmas	Unknown	TV movie
1957–1961	The Army Game	Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore	Series 1 (3 episodes) Series 2 (2 episodes) Series 5 (8 episodes)
1958–1959	Dial 999	Joss Crawford Jeff Richards	Season 1, Episode 1: "The Killing Job" Season 1, Episode 16: "50,000 Hands"
1959	Probation Officer	Unknown	Season 1, Episode 28
	The Flying Doctor	Abe McKeller	Season 1, Episode 9: "The Changing Plain"
1960	ITV Television Playhouse	Reynolds Jim	Season 5, Episode 41: "Place of My Own" Season 5, Episode 44: "After the Party"
1961	Kraft Mystery Theater	Smith	Season 1, Episode 11: "The Desperate Men"
	Ghost Squad	Fred Rice	Season 1, Episode 4: "High Wire"
1963	The Plane Makers	Wally Griggs	Season 1, Episode 15: "One of Those Days"
1963–1966, 1972	Doctor Who	First Doctor	Season 1 (42 episodes) Season 2 (39 episodes) Season 3 (45 episodes) Season 4 (8 episodes) Season 10 (4 episodes)
1967	No Hiding Place	Impey	Season 10, Episode 2: "The Game"
1968	Softly, Softly	Henry Swift	Season 3, Episode 13: "Cause of Death"
1969	Life With Johnny	Dad	Season 1, 2 Episodes inc "Johnny Come Home"[44]
1970	Crime of Passion	Henri Lindon	Season 1, Episode 6: "Alain"

References

1. "UPI Almanac for Monday, Jan. 8, 2018". United Press International. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2019. …actor William Hartnell in 1908
2. Meyrick, Robert (2004). "Hugh Blaker: Doing His Bit for the Moderns". Journal of the History of Collections. 16 (2): 173–89. ISSN 0954-6650
3. Carney, p. 20
4. Carney, p. 21
5. Carney, p. 20-21
6. Carney
7. Carney, p. 37-38
8. Keay, Douglas (26 July 1957). "Off Parade – At the Hartnell Home". TV Times. London.
9. Retter, Emily (22 November 2013). "William Hartnell: Original Doctor Who transformed himself from a poverty stricken illegitimate child and hard-drinking womaniser to one of television's most iconic characters". The Mirror. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
10. "Hartnell, William Henry (1908–1975)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. September 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
11. Carney, Jessica (1996). Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell. London.
12. "Obituary: Mr William Hartnell – An actor of varied talents", The Times, 25 April 1975.
13. Craig Cabell Who Were the Doctors (John Blake, 2013)
14. "BBC Genome Project, 11 May 1931". BBC. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
15. Carney, p. 91
16. Hoare, Philip (1995). Noël Coward: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80937-3.
17. Norton, Charles (22 August 2013). "Doctor Who: the rediscovered William Hartnell interview". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
18. Mulkern, Patrick (16 October 2013). "Doctor Who's Waris Hussein on William Hartnell, Bette Davis, & Peter Cook loathing David Frost". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
19. Sweney, Mark (16 October 2013). "Doctor Who director exposes William Hartnell as reluctant first Time Lord". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
20. 2-entertain (2006). Doctor Who: Origins. YouTube. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
21. Howe, David J.; Stammers, Mark; Walker, Stephen James (1994). The Handbook: The First Doctor – The William Hartnell Years 1963–1966. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 978-0-426-20430-5.
22. Doctor Who. "A Brief History of a Time Lord". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
23. Howe, Stammers & Walker (1992), p. 16–17. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFHoweStammersWalker1992 (help)
24. Howe, Stammers & Walker (1992), p. 19. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFHoweStammersWalker1992 (help)
25. Carney, p. 167
26. Harmes, Marcus K. (2014). Doctor Who and the Art of Adaptation: Fifty Years of Storytelling. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 40. ISBN 978-1442232853. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
27. Big Finish Talks Back: The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs (A Soldier in Time)
28. Mulkern, Patrick (1 April 2008). "Interview: Nicholas Courtney". Retrieved 27 July 2013.
29. Mulkern, Patrick (16 October 2013). "Doctor Who's Waris Hussein on William Hartnell, Bette Davis, & Peter Cook loathing David Frost". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
30. Carney, p. 171
31. Howe, Stammers & Walker (1992), p. 17. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFHoweStammersWalker1992 (help)
32. Haining, p. 39
33. Howe, Stammers and Walker, p. 68
34. The Tenth Planet. Doctor Who. 29 October 1966. BBC.
35. Doctor Who (7 February 2012). "Exclusive First Look: Hartnell's perseverance – Doctor Who – The Three Doctors". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 July 2013.
36. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40585673
37. "BBC – Archive – The Changing Face of Doctor Who – 'Radio Times' Letters Page, 24 November 1966". www.bbc.co.uk.
38. Cabell, Craig (27 November 2011). The Doctors Who's Who - the Story Behind Every Face of the Iconic Time Lord: Celebrating its 50th Year. ISBN 9781843585763.
39. Retter, Emily (22 November 2013). "Story of the first Doctor Who: How illegitimate thief and womaniser William Hartnell became the original Time Lord".
40. Jones, David (29 January 2013). "Doctor Who: Mark Gatiss reveals casting for An Adventure in Space and Time". Radio Times. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
41. Zemler, Emily (24 July 2013). "'Doctor Who' celebrates 50 years with biopic". CNN. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
42. Cornet, Ron (22 July 2013). "Comic-Con: Doctor Who's 50th!". IGN. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
43. "DWAS honours William Hartnell". Doctor Who News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
44. nwhyte (18 April 2015). "William Hartnell as Cliff Richard's father".

Bibliography

• Wood, Tat; Lawrence Miles (2006). About Time 1: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who 1963–1966. Illinois: Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 978-0-9759446-0-8.
• Carney, Jessica (1996). Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85227-514-3.
• Howe, David J.; Stammers, Mark; Walker, Stephen James (1993). Doctor Who: The Sixties. London: Virgin Publishing. ISBN 978-0-86369-707-4.
• Haining, Peter (1983). Doctor Who: A Celebration. London: W.H. Allen and Co. ISBN 978-0-491-03351-0.

External links

• William Hartnell on IMDb
• William Hartnell at the BFI's Screenonline