Biography
For the Californio, see William Edward Petty Hartnell.
William Hartnell in a publicity still as the First Doctor
William Henry Hartnell (January 8, 1908–April 23, 1975), a British actor, was the first actor to play the lead role of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1963 to 1966.
Hartnell was born in St Pancras, London, and raised primarily by his aunt Bessie (Wood, 208). Often known as Billy, he was educated at home and at Imperial Service College. After training as a jockey, boxing, he studied acting at The Sylvia Young Theatre School and entered the theatre in 1924. The first of more than sixty film appearances was Say It With Music in 1932. Hartnell usually played comic characters, until 1944 with the robust role of sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead. From then on, he played mainly policemen, soldiers, hugs, like Dallow in Brighton Rock. In 1958 he appeared in the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant as Sergeant Grimshaw, in 1963 he appeared as a town councillor in the Boulting Brothers' film Heavens Above! with Peter Sellers.
His first regular role on television was in The Army Game from 1957–1961. In 1963 he appeared in a supporting role in the film version of This Sporting Life in an atypical part for him, a sensitive performance as an ageing Rugby League talent scout. This performance was noted by Verity Lambert, the producer who was setting up a new science-fiction television series for the BBC, Doctor Who. She offered him the title role, although he was initially uncertain, Lambert and director Waris Hussein convinced him to take the part. It became the part for which he gained the highest profile and is now most widely remembered. (See List of Doctor Who serials). Hartnell came to relish particularly the attention and affection playing the character brought him from children, he became very fond of the role.
According to some he worked with on Doctor Who, he could be a difficult person to work with, although other colleagues, notably actors Peter Purves and William Russell and producer Verity Lambert speak glowingly of him after more than forty years. His poor health (arteriosclerosis) as well as poor relations with the new production team on the series following the departure of Lambert, ultimately led him to leave Doctor Who in 1966. Some commentators now contend that reports of Hartnell's illness were subsequently exaggerated by Lambert's successors in the role of producer, John Wiles and Innes Lloyd, to justify a decision to sack the actor. Others suggest that it was a mutual decision between Hartnell and the production team that he should leave the programme, although Hartnell in later life claimed he did not want to go writing, in an oft-quoted letter, "I didn't willingly give up the part". Hartnell returned to demanding theatre work almost immediately upon leaving Doctor Who and made television guest appearances across the late 1960s.
Hartnell reprised the role in the 10th Anniversary story The Three Doctors (1973) with the help of cue cards but appeared only in pre-filmed inserts. Hartnell's health had grown progressively worse since leaving Doctor Who 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 died in his sleep of heart failure on April 23, 1975 at the age of 67.
A clip of his scene from the end of the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) was used as a pre-credits sequence for the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983).
Biographical information about William Hartnell is hard to substantiate because of conflicting information from various sources. Hartnell himself gave accounts of his birth and upbringing which seem to differ from verifiable facts, and the only published biography of him is by his granddaughter, Jessica Carney. Although criticised by some as a hagiography, Carney's "Who's There?" does refer to these difficulties and makes it clear that a great deal of research has been done, drawing from primary sources, as well as Hartnell's family's own extensive archive. Notwithstanding a sometimes negative view of its subject, the family link with the author makes some critics view this work as biased.
Hartnellisms
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Hartnell's occasional difficulty in remembering lines while in Doctor Who led to a number of line fluffs, many of which were left in the finished program. The fluffs were distinctive enough to be named "Hartnellisms" (or "Billy-fluffs") by Doctor Who fans. It should however be noted that the methods of television production at the time — effectively recording long takes "as live" with retakes only being undertaken in extreme circumstances — led to the inclusion of far more of these small errors than would have been apparent in any more modern production. Examples include:
The Doctor was meant to say "anti-radiation drugs" but said instead said "anti-radiation gloves". The cast reacted as if he had said his proper line and Hartnell quickly corrected himself. (The Daleks)
The Doctor intends to tell a character named Maitland to stabilise his spaceship. Instead, the Doctor says, "Stabilise us, matron!" (The Sensorites)
A Hartnellism that occurred during rehearsals of Inside the Spaceship: the Doctor was to tell Susan to check the fault-locator. Instead, he told her to check the fornicator.
As Hartnell's health failed, the number of Hartnellisms increased, sometimes to the detriment of the plot. In Hartnell's final story, The Tenth Planet, Hartnell was given far fewer lines than normal, possibly to prevent such problems in his final story.
Preceded by:
(none)
The Doctor
(First Doctor)
1963–1966
Succeeded by:
Patrick Troughton
References
Wood, Tat; & Lawrence Miles (2006). About Time 1: The Unauthorized Guide to Doctor Who 1963–1966, Illinois: Mad Norwegian Press. ISBN 0-9759446-0-6.
