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William Henry Hartnell (January 8,
1908–April 23, 1975), a British actor, was
the first actor to play the lead role of The
Doctor (Doctor Who)|the Doctor in the long-running
science fiction television series Doctor Who from
1963 to 1966.

He was born in St Pancras, London. Often known as
Billy, he was educated at home and at Imperial
Service College. After training as a jockey, and
boxing, he studied acting at
http://www.sylviayoungtheatreschool.co.uk/ 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, and thugs, like Dallow in
Brighton Rock. In 1958 he appeared in the first
Carry_On_films|Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant as
Sergeant Grimshaw, and in 1963 he appeared as a
town councillor in the Roy Boulting|Boulting
Brothers' film Heavens Above! with Peter Sellers.

He appeared first on television in The Army Game
from 1957–1961, and in 1963 gave up movies
and took the lead in Doctor Who, for which he is
now most widely known. (See List of Doctor Who
serials.)

According to some he worked with on Doctor Who, he
could be a tough person to work with. His poor
health (arteriosclerosis, brought on by years of
drinking) as well as poor relations with the new
production team ultimately led him to leave Doctor
Who in 1966. Some fan commentators now believe
that reports of Hartnell's illness were
subsequently exaggerated by his producers, Innes
Lloyd and John Wiles, to justify a decision to
sack the actor. Other sources suggest that it was
a mutual decision between Hartnell and the
production tem that he should leave the programme,
although Hartnell in later life claimed he did not
want to go.

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
congestive heart failure|heart failure on April
23, 1975. 

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#Secular_usage|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.

start box
succession box | title=The Doctor (Doctor Who)|The
Doctor | before=(none) | after=Patrick Troughton |
years=1963–1966
end box

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0367156|name=William Hartnell
*http://www.williamhartnell.com/ William Hartnell
Dot Com
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/doctors/docto
r1.shtml BBC Online — William Hartnell
*http://www.carryonline.com/carry/hartnell.html
William Hartnell biography @ Carry On...

lived|b=1908|d=1975|key=Hartnell, William