William Hartnell
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
133
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
The Ties That Bind Us
Parisian Life
Suspected Person
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
Hell Drivers
The Hypnotist
The Army Game
Vision On
Heavens Above!
Strawberry Roan
Now Barabbas
Headline
The Ringer
Escape
Tales of the Tardis
The Lure
Temptation Harbour
Strictly Confidential
The Way Ahead
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
Don't Lose Your Head: The Making of 'The Reign of Terror'
Brighton Rock
Sabotage at Sea
Odd Man Out
The Magic Box
The Mouse That Roared
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
Doctor Who: Marco Polo
Remembering/Forgetting 'The Savages'
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
An Adventure in Space and Time
The Bells Go Down
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
Footsteps in the Fog
To Have and to Hold
Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead
Ghost Squad
Doctor Who: The Aztecs
The Holly and the Ivy
Murder in Reverse?
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
Doctor Who: The Savages
Date with Disaster
Private's Progress
Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks
Doctor Who: The Savages
Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Shake Hands with the Devil
Doctor Who: The Gunfighters
The Dark Man
Doublecross
Doctor Who: The Smugglers
Doctor Who: The Rescue
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
They Came by Night
What's a Carry On?
Doctor Who: The Time Meddler
The Pickwick Papers
Doctor Who: The Crusade
Piccadilly Third Stop
Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror
Appointment with Crime
The Sets of Marinus
The Peterville Diamond
Murder Will Out
Doctor Who: The Chase
The Desperate Man
Tons of Trouble
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
The Lost People
Doctor Who: The Sensorites
Doctor Who: Planet of Giants
Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited
Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
The Night We Dropped a Clanger
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Doctor Who: The Romans
Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction
The Goose Steps Out
Doctor Who: Earthshock
Doctor Who: Origins
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
Mounting the Rescue
That's Carry On!
Doctor Who: The Space Museum
The Dark Tower
Doctor Who: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
Will Any Gentleman...?
Doctor Who: The Web Planet
Tomorrow at Ten
Carry On Sergeant
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius
Midnight at Madame Tussaud's
And the Same to You
Josephine and Men
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks
The Crimson Circle
Masters of Sound
Doctor Who: The Ark
The Guv'nor
Doctor Who: The War Machines
The Perfect Flaw
This Sporting Life
Creation of the Daleks
They Flew Alone
A Defeated People
Follow the Lady
The Agitator
Double Confession
They Drive by Night
The World Ten Times Over
Doctor Who at the Proms
Inside the Spaceship: The Story of the TARDIS
Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War
Doctor Who: Lost in Time
Talking Doctor Who
Jackpot
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
Farewell Again
Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan
Freedom Radio
Doctor Who: The Daleks
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet
On the Run
Remembering 'The Aztecs'
Future Memories: Making 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'
