Farewell to our favourite Dr Who
- Publication: Shropshire Star
- Date: 1996-05-20
- Author:
- Page: 6
- Language: English
JON PERTWEE, who has died at the age of 76, was the comedy actor who turned Doctor Who into a dandy - and won millions of TV fans.
When, after five years, he gave up the elegant ruffles and velvets of the mercurial time traveller his next role was very different - as Worzel Gummidge the turnip-headed scarecrow.
He returned to the Doctor Who role for a gruelling stage tour in 1989 and his German-born wife Inge warned it could kill him.
"She thought this could be the one that finished me off-maybe I am a bit long in the tooth for such a long. tough tour," he said at the time. I'm still not sure if it will be too much for me, but I have a lot of nervous energy hopefully that will keep me going." He was later dismissive of his famous TV adversaries The Daleks, saying they were put together with a sink plunger, an egg whisk and 24 tennis balls and described them as "ridiculous."
By then he was already a household name through classic radio comedy shows such as The Navy Lark, Waterlogged Spa, Up The Pole and The Radio Postman.
Pertwee was born in 1919 into a London theatrical family and was earmarked for showbusiness almost from birth-an office job was never on the cards. His father Roland was a writer, his elder brother Michael became a screenwriter and playwright-and cousin Bill Pertwee became the warden in Dad's Army.
"I suppose anybody named Pertwee has to be an actor or a corn merchant, which is more or less the same thing, though I do have an uncle who's head of the Poetry Society so adds a touch of class," he said.
He entered RADA in the mid-1930s and the principal, Kenneth Barnes, commented that he appeared to have no talent of any discernible kind.
In the end-of-term thriller he was asked to play not just the murder victim but the police inspector as well
...Noel Coward saw the production and remarked that they were the only two decent actors in it. He was eventually asked to leave for allegedly writing rude words on che lavatory wall and was told he had no future in the theatre. Charles Laughton heartened him by saying that dismissal from RADA and some early repertory jobs were the best ways of becoming an actor.
His big break came during the war when, as a seaman, he met future radio comedian Eric Barker-catchphrase "Steady On"-at the Admiralty where they were reporting on the standards of naval broadcasting.
He had just come off HMS Hood, which was sunk soon afterwards, and decided working with Barker was better. Their partnership lasted five years.
His comic role in radio's The Navy Lark aboard the lunatic HMS Troutbridge lasted more than 20 years and established him as a household favourite. Later came many films such as Carry On Cleo and Carry On Screaming, Murder At The Windmill and One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing and tours of variety theatres all over Britain.
He was a master of dialect and such a good mimic he could be cast in almost any comic role whether it be Scots, Welsh, Irish, Cockney spiv or just plain English country bumpkin.
He was married twice, the first time in 1955 to Upstairs Downstairs' Jean Marsh. The marriage did not last and he later married the daughter of a German government minister he met on holiday. They had two children and lived in Barnes, west London.
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- APA 6th ed.: (1996-05-20). Farewell to our favourite Dr Who. Shropshire Star p. 6.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Farewell to our favourite Dr Who." Shropshire Star [add city] 1996-05-20, 6. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Farewell to our favourite Dr Who." Shropshire Star, edition, sec., 1996-05-20
- Turabian: "Farewell to our favourite Dr Who." Shropshire Star, 1996-05-20, section, 6 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Farewell to our favourite Dr Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Farewell_to_our_favourite_Dr_Who | work=Shropshire Star | pages=6 | date=1996-05-20 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 January 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Farewell to our favourite Dr Who | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Farewell_to_our_favourite_Dr_Who | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=5 January 2025}}</ref>
