WILLIAM HARTNELL, who madye a big name for himself playing sadistic N.C.O.s, revels in the change to Dr. Who of the B.B.C.'s science fiction aerial for children.
"I'd always wanted to be an old man." The chance came in the Boulting Brothers - Peter Sellers comedy "Heavens Above" and that's where "Dr. Who" producer Verity Lambert found him.
Bi11's father, determined that his son should have discipline, sent him to the Imperial Service College, Windsor. But at 17 he left for the stage, touring the country with Sir Frank Benson's Shakespearean company.
Curiously enough, his acting career was to hark back most successfully to his military training. His first break came in 1943, the part of the tough Sergeant Fletcher in the film "The Way Ahead."
Soon after the war he was slaying West End audiences as a harsh petty officer in the naval comedy-drama "Seagulls Over Sorrento."
Then came television - and yet another roaring Sergeant in ITV's "The Army Game."
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