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John Devon Roland Pertwee (7 July 1919 Chelsea, London, England, UK - 20 May 1996), better known as Jon Pertwee, played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974. He died of a heart attack on 20 May 1996 in Timber Lake, Connecticut, USA. He was married to Ingeborg Rhoesa, and had two children. His son Sean Pertwee is an actor and his daughter Dariel Pertwee an accomplished stage actress. Outside of Doctor Who, he is well-known as the title character in the ITV series Worzel Gummidge (1979-1981) and hosted the ITV murder mystery quiz programme [perhaps ironically titled] Whodunnit! between 1974 and 1978.
Pertwee was a comic actor, with roles such as the conniving CPO Pertwee in The Navy Lark (1959-1977) (he also voiced the recurring villain - The Master - during the mid 70s run of the series) on BBC Radio and provided character voices for other previous radio comedy series such as Waterlogged Spa. He played the part of Lycus in the 1963 London stage production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and appeared in the brief role of Crassus in the 1966 film version, the screenplay for which was co-written by his brother, Michael Pertwee. He appeared in four Carry On films: Carry on Cleo (1964), Carry On Screaming! (1966) (which, coincidentally, has a joke about Doctor Who), Carry On Cowboy (1965) and Carry On Columbus (1992). He guest starred in the British comedy television series The Goodies, in the instalment "Wacky Wales."
In 1972 he released a vocal version of the programme's celebrated theme tune entitled "Who is the Doctor",[1] and in 1980 released a novelty track based on Worzel Gummidge entitled "Worzel's Song".[2] He returned to the role of the Doctor in the 1983 twentieth-Anniversary television movie The Five Doctors and the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time. He also performed in two radio spin-offs, The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space. During the 1990s, he made a guest appearance in the "Lords and Ladies" episode of the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Harry Hill's Fruit Corner, playing a Time Lord.
Before he became the Doctor...
Pertwee was an officer in the Royal Navy, working in naval intelligence during the Second World War. He was a crew member of HMS Hood and was transferred off the ship shortly before it was sunk, losing all but three men. Pertwee enrolled in RADA, but was expelled for, as he put it, "lack of seriousness." He was married twice, first to Jean Marsh (1955-1960), whom he divorced, and then, on 13 August 1960, to Ingeborg Rhoesha, by whom he had two children, Sean and Dariel. He was the cousin of actor Bill Pertwee (a regular in Dad's Army).
Why that fancy-pants get-up?
By Pertwee's own account, he conceived the first outfit that the Third Doctor wore as a joke. Retrieving an old velvet smoking jacket, ruffled shirt, and opera cape from storage, he decided that it was the most ridiculous outfit he had ever seen, most of all that he had ever worn. He wore it to an appointment at the producer's office. Far from laughing him out of that office, the production team loved the idea. From that day, elaborate, dandy-esque clothes became a crucial part of the Third Doctor's character.
Details of the Third Doctor's outfits
As the Third Doctor, Pertwee frequently wore velvet smoking coats in various solid colours, usually with colour-co-ordinated trousers, as "dinner suits." With these dinner suits, he wore frilled shirts in lighter colours, some of which had darker-coloured contrast trim on their frills. These frilled shirts also tended to have bow ties knotted, frequently in artist's style, around the closed shirt collars; their solid colours were often identical to, or darker than, the dominant solid colours of the smoking coats.
Sometimes the Third Doctor would wear an Inverness cape over his outfits. The very first time he did so, in "Spearhead from Space," the story with which Pertwee actually began his tenure in the role, his Inverness cape was black in colour, its lining was bright red in colour, and he had "borrowed" (read: stolen) it, and indeed all the other articles of his clothes, from the hospital from which he had escaped. Sometimes, his Inverness cape would be lined in blue, purple, or violet colours, or its outer shell would have some sort of colour pattern, usually an obvious plaid in such cases. Some of the Third Doctor's Inverness capes, when he wore them, would have only cape-like sleeves; others would have full capelettes that would be distinct from the main "frock" of the Inverness.
In toto, the Third Doctor's outfits were typical of the dapper, technologically-oriented man of action as whom Pertwee played him, and whom Pertwee came to realise that he himself was outside of his comedic characters.
As the Doctor
As he did not really know who he was outside of comedic roles, Pertwee also insisted that despite his reputation as a comic actor, he wanted to play the Doctor more seriously and heroically, as a man of action — and a technologically-oriented one at that. These details of his approach helped him to appreciate his own true personality.
Pertwee was vocal about the Doctor being given what he termed "moments of charm", small dialogue sequences with other characters where there was no plot exposition, but mutual character development. Often these sequences would consist of the Doctor dispensing advice or instilling courage.
Pertwee discussed his decision to leave Doctor Who in 1974 on several occasions, such as the PBS documentary Doctor Who's Who's Who and the Myth Makers video series. He cited two catalysts in his decision: the departure of Barry Letts as series producer and the 1973 death of close friend Roger Delgado, who had played the Master.
Later years
Outside acting, Pertwee was an avid sportsman. He was especially fond of water-skiing. A favourite ring of his, which became his trademark, had begun as a coin he had retrieved from a shipwreck whilst he was scuba diving, which he had mounted.
Pertwee would continue to act in films and television ands make appearances world-wide in support of Doctor Who. Eventually, he became more aggressive in boosting projects that he favoured. Early success in persuading Doctor Who actors such as Patrick Troughton to appear as guests at American science fiction conventions inspired Pertwee to lobby for a radio version of the series after it was put on hiatus. Additionally, in the 1980s he vigorously canvassed British producers on behalf of Worzel Gummidge.
Ultimately, Pertwee was successful in seeing the Third Doctor return to the airwaves with two audio productions for BBC Radio, The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space. Worzel Gummidge was picked up for production by a New Zealand TV company which produced two series of Worzel Gummidge Down Under (1987 & 1989). Near the end of his life, Pertwee also appeared in several semi-professional independent productions by BBV Productions; although his was not the role of the Doctor, he did play a doctor in The Zero Imperative, the premiere release of the P.R.O.B.E. series which starred Pertwee's former Doctor Who co-star Caroline John, who reprised her role of Liz Shaw. He also made a cameo appearance in the BBV-produced film The Airzone Solution. Whilst it was unrelated to Doctor Who, it featured appearances by, at the time of production, all the surviving actors who had played incarnations of the Doctor except Tom Baker.
Death
Pertwee continued on the convention circuit and with his voice and television acting until his death at the age of 76 from a heart attack whilst on holiday in the American state of Connecticut on 20 May 1996. (Some reports place the location of his death in New York.) He died only days after the American broadcast of the Doctor Who television movie, which had used, in its opening credits, a logo based on the one from his era of the television series. The BBC broadcast of the television movie featured a dedication to Pertwee at its conclusion.
Just before his death, Pertwee played the Doctor for a Vodafone commercial. 21 April 1996 was his last television appearance: Surprise Surprise, where he (as the Doctor) met young Who fan David Petter and present him with a real Dalek.
The latest known surviving footage of Jon Pertwee before his death was filmed during his final trip to the Isle of Wight on 2 May 1996, merely 18 days before his heart attack. Pertwee had travelled there to visit the Medina Theatre in Newport during the tour of his one-man show. While he stayed at the Isle of Wight, a few local fans were given the chance to meet him. The footage of their meeting was recorded on a videocassette and exists online under the name, "Jon Pertwee's last visit to the Isle of Wight 2 May 1996". It was made available by an individual using the pseudonym 20mbPodcast.
His last association with the series was posthumous. With the approval of his widow, Ingeborg, his voice was used as part of the plot of the Big Finish Productions 40th-Anniversary Doctor Who audio drama, Zagreus. Pertwee's voice was culled from the fan-produced Doctor Who film Devious[3], portions of which were recorded prior to his death; he filmed his scenes for the production in April 1995. Although the production was not authorised or commissioned by the BBC, a 12-minute excerpt from the still-unfinished Devious was nonetheless included as a bonus feature on the BBC Video 2009 DVD release of The War Games. He was a lifelong fan of cartoons and self-proclaimed expert in animation.
Trivia
- His godson, Adam James, appeared in Planet of the Dead.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1972 - Who is the Doctor. The Millennium Effect. Retrieved on 11 December 2011.
- ↑ Worzel Gummidge @ Nostalgia Central. Nostalgia Central (1998/2008). Archived from the original on 30 December 2007. Retrieved on 11 December 2011.
- ↑ Jon Pertwee.... doctor who devious.com. Retrieved on 11 December 2011.
