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William Hartnell played the Doctor in Doctor Who in the early 1960s. Prior to this he had been in Brighton Rock.
On the set of the 1964 Doctor Who story The Outlaws, writer Godfrey Porter said that he "liked him" and that he was very professional but could be short-tempered with some of the less-experienced actors. He told Doctor Who Magazine in an interview in issue 172 that he hadn't realised that he was ill and had attributed it to his acting. Hartnell was absent for the recording of episodes four and five of that story, "Errand of Mercy" and "Ransom" respectively due to illness which necessitated a last-minute rewrite of the script.
By the 1970s he had been replaced in the lead role by Tom Baker. (PROSE: The Thief of Sherwood)