William Hartnell
Acting
Born 1908-01-08
Died 1975-04-23
Saint Pancras, London, England, UK
132 credits
Read biography
William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975), also known as Billy Hartnell or Bill Hartnell, was an English actor. Hartnell played the first incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1966. He was also known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 until 1958, and again in 1960.
Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925 working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand. 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), 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, whom he married during the following year. His first of more than sixty film appearances was in Say It With Music (1932).
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.
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; and, mainly on the strength of that performance, Lambert offered him the title role.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 132
Doctor Who
No Hiding Place
The Army Game
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
Tales of the Tardis
Ghost Squad
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
An Adventure in Space and Time
The Mouse That Roared
Odd Man Out
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
Hell Drivers
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
This Sporting Life
Private's Progress
Talking Doctor Who
That's Carry On!
Footsteps in the Fog
Shake Hands with the Devil
Carry On Sergeant
Doctor Who: Lost in Time
Doctor Who at the Proms
Brighton Rock
Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Magic Box
The Lure
Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks
Heavens Above!
Doctor Who: The Chase
The Pickwick Papers
The Way Ahead
The Ties That Bind Us
The Bells Go Down
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
The Guv'nor
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
They Came by Night
The Ringer
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius
Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War
What's a Carry On?
The Goose Steps Out
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
They Flew Alone
Doctor Who: The Crusade
The Crimson Circle
Midnight at Madame Tussaud's
The Holly and the Ivy
The Lost People
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
To Have and to Hold
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan
Doctor Who: The Romans
Doublecross
The Night We Dropped a Clanger
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