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William Henry Hartnell (; 8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor, who is best known for portraying the First Doctor of the Doctor, in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who from 1963 to 1966; he reprised the role in 1972–1973. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in Brighton Rock (1949), The Mouse That Roared (1959) and This Sporting Life (1963). He was associated with military roles, playing Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the ITV sitcom The Army Game (1957, 1961) and Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character in the first Carry On film Carry On Sergeant (1958).
Hartnell 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.Carney Reportedly, Hartnell had a fall and was kicked by a horse. Disinfectant was applied to the open wound to cleanse it. However, the disinfectant was of a type unsuitable for first aid purposes and caused blisters. The result was a more serious wound than what would have otherwise occurred.Carney, p. 37-38 Hartnell was left with a large scar on his temple, which is visible in some of his stills shots even though it was covered with make-up during filming. He was a second cousin of the fashion designer Norman Hartnell.
Hartnell left school without prospects and dabbled in petty crime. At the age of 16, he 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. 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. When Hartnell married, he and his wife continued to live in one of Blaker's adjacent properties at Isleworth and their daughter was born there in 1929.
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.
From the outbreak of the Second World War, Hartnell attempted to volunteer for the RAF.Carney, p. 91 He served in the British Army in the Tank Corps, but he was invalided out after 18 months as the result of a nervous breakdown and returned to acting. 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").
Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead (1944). 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 1947 he was cast in a major role in the Boulting brothers classic gangster film noir Brighton Rock, playing the tough gang underboss, Dallow. In 1957 he appeared in Hell Drivers as a ruthless and hard-nosed transport yard manager, Cartley. In 1958, he played the sergeant in the first Carry On comedy film, Carry On Sergeant. He appeared as serjeant-at-arms of Grand Fenwick 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".
Hartnell described himself as "a legitimate character actor of the theatre and film".
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), . By comparison, in 1966 his co-stars Anneke Wills and Michael Craze were earning £68 and £52 per episode at the same time, respectively. (1994). 9780426204305, Virgin Publishing. ISBN 9780426204305 Throughout his tenure as the Doctor, Hartnell wore a wig when playing the part, as the character had long hair.
Hartnell described his character the Doctor as "a wizard", and "a cross between the Wizard of Oz and Father Christmas". According to William Russell, Hartnell deliberately became occasionally tongue-tied and stumbled over words.
According to some of his colleagues on Doctor Who, Hartnell could be a difficult person to work with; among the more caustic accounts, Nicholas Courtney and Wills described Hartnell as being Racism and Antisemitism. Big Finish Talks Back: The Nicholas Courtney Memoirs (A Soldier in Time) Hussein stated that Hartnell was homophobic, but also said "I never allowed him to think of me as anything other than a director". They enjoyed a good working relationship and Hussein developed a "great affection" for Hartnell; Hussein said Hartnell was upset when Hussein left the show. Hartnell's granddaughter, Jessica Carney, wrote that Hartnell was very bigoted and often made xenophobic comments but that "all those loudly expressed opinions were contradicted by his behaviour on a personal level". Val Speyer said that while 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!"Carney, p. 171
Hartnell's deteriorating health (undiagnosed arteriosclerosis) began to affect his ability to learn his lines, with the problem increasing as his time on the series progressed. In addition, he had a poor relationship with Lambert's successor John Wiles, who resigned from the role after barely six months. The producer role was then given to Innes Lloyd who, with new story editor Gerry Davis, developed the idea that since the Doctor was an alien, he could transform himself physically, enabling the production to recast the lead role. Hartnell left Doctor Who in 1966.Haining, p. 39 Hartnell himself suggested his successor; "There's only one man in England who can take over, and that's Patrick Troughton." Hartnell departed the show in the serial The Tenth Planet where the First Doctor regenerates into Troughton's Second Doctor.
Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story The Three Doctors, broadcast from December 1972 to January 1973. 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. His appearance in the story was his final piece of work as an actor due to his declining health.
As a result of the then-standard practice of discarding old recordings in order to make room for newer ones, 44 of Hartnell's 134 episodes are missing from the archives, although audio recordings exist of all episodes.
Asked about his religious beliefs in an interview for The Sunday Times in 1966, Hartnell claimed to "have a natural belief there is something or someone great that exists beyond his comprehension", further stating that he did not believe that going to church should be a duty and that he himself preferred to visit church in solitude.
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 had David Bradley portraying Hartnell.
A blue plaque marking Hartnell's work in film and television was unveiled at Ealing Studios by Carney on 14 October 2018.
| film debut |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Uncredited |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Uncredited |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Uncredited |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Minor role |
| Dick |
| Uncredited |
| Radio Location Aerial Operator |
| Gaylord Parker |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Uncredited |
| Credited as "Bill Hartnell" |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Credited as "Bill Hartnell" |
| Credited as "Billy Hartnell" |
| Chris Lowe |
| Peter Pettinger |
| + !Year !Title !Role !Notes | |||
| 1927 | The Man Responsible | Dr. Ronald Warden | Theatre Royal, Grand Pier Pavilion, Weston-super-Mare, and other locations |
| 1934 | Good Morning, Bill | Bill Paradene | Richmond Theatre |
| 1936 | The Late Christopher Bean | Tallent | Victoria Palace Theatre |
| Family Affairs | Nevil Madehurst | ||
| 1937-8 | Power and Glory | First Journalist | Savoy Theatre |
| 1939-40 | Nap Hand | Customer | Aldwych Theatre, London, Opera House and other locations |
| 1942-3 | Brighton Rock | Dallow | Garrick Theatre, London, Grand Theatre and other locations |
| 1950 | What Anne Brought Anne | Douglas Purdie | Royal County Theatre, Bedford |
| 1950-4 | Seagulls Over Sorrento | Petty Officer Herbert | Apollo Theatre (Shaftesbury Avenue), London, Duchess Theatre, London, and other locations |
| 1955 | Treble Trouble | George Knowles | Richmond Theatre |
| 1956 | Ring for Catty | John Rhodes | Coliseum Theatre, Harrow, Lyric Theatre (Shaftesbury Ave), London, and other locations |
| 1961 | The Cupboard | Alf Thompson | Arts Theatre, London |
| 1966-7 | Puss in Boots | Buskin the Fairy Cobbler | The Gaumont Theatre Ipswich, The Odeon Theatre, Southend, Cheltenham and Taunton |
| 1967-8 | Brother and Sister | William Brazier | Bristol Old Vic |
| 1968 | Lord Arthur Savile's Crime | Baines | Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon, King's Theatre and other locations |
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