William Hartnell
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
131
Gender
Male
Birthday
1908-01-08
Day of death
1975-04-23 (67 years old)
Place of Birth
Saint Pancras, London, England, UK
William Hartnell
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.
Known For
Doctor Who
No Hiding Place
Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror
The Desperate Man
The Sets of Marinus
Doctor Who: The Rescue
Doctor Who: Planet of Giants
The Magic Box
Doctor Who: The Gunfighters
The Lost People
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
Doctor Who: The Aztecs
The Peterville Diamond
The Army Game
Sabotage at Sea
Doctor Who: The Savages
Doctor Who: The Time Meddler
The Hypnotist
Tons of Trouble
Tales of the Tardis
Doctor Who: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
Murder Will Out
Doctor Who: Origins
The Mouse That Roared
Doctor Who: The Ark
Odd Man Out
The Way Ahead
Jackpot
Mounting the Rescue
The Goose Steps Out
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
Doctor Who: The Savages
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
Date with Disaster
Hell Drivers
Doctor Who: Marco Polo
Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Strawberry Roan
Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Doctor Who: The Crusade
The Night We Dropped a Clanger
The Pickwick Papers
Parisian Life
Vision On
The Ringer
Strictly Confidential
And the Same to You
Ghost Squad
Doctor Who: The Smugglers
Suspected Person
Doctor Who: The Romans
Private's Progress
Tomorrow at Ten
Piccadilly Third Stop
Now Barabbas
The Dark Tower
Doctor Who: The Space Museum
The Guv'nor
Shake Hands with the Devil
The Ties That Bind Us
Appointment with Crime
Heavens Above!
Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
The Agitator
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors
Doctor Who: The Chase
Doctor Who: The Sensorites
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Double Confession
Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead
Headline
Josephine and Men
To Have and to Hold
The Bells Go Down
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
An Adventure in Space and Time
Brighton Rock
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
They Came by Night
The Dark Man
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
The Holly and the Ivy
Escape
Murder in Reverse?
Don't Lose Your Head
Doctor Who: Earthshock
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
Doctor Who at the Proms
That's Carry On!
Footsteps in the Fog
Carry On Sergeant
Inside the Spaceship: The Story of the TARDIS
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks
Doctor Who: The War Machines
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
Temptation Harbour
They Flew Alone
This Sporting Life
Doctor Who: The Web Planet
They Drive by Night
Will Any Gentleman...?
Midnight at Madame Tussaud's
Creation of the Daleks
Doctor Who: Lost in Time
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius
Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks
The World Ten Times Over
The Crimson Circle
Masters of Sound
Doublecross
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet
Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan
Freedom Radio
A Defeated People
Talking Doctor Who
The Perfect Flaw
Farewell Again
Follow the Lady
Doctor Who: The Daleks
Future Memories: Making 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'
The Lure
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
On the Run
Remembering 'The Aztecs'
