Jon Pertwee

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Jon Pertwee
Third Doctor.jpg
Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor
Born John Devon Roland Pertwee
(1919-07-07)7 July 1919
Chelsea, London, England
Died 20 May 1996(1996-05-20) (aged 76)
Connecticut, United States
Cause of death Heart attack
Years active 1938-1996
Spouse(s) Jean Marsh (1955–60) (divorced)
Ingeborg Rhoesa (1960–96)
(his death)
Children Sean Pertwee
Dariel Pertwee

John Devon Roland Pertwee (7 July 1919[1] – 20 May 1996) was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for a series of famous roles, firstly his 18-year stint on BBC Radio as Chief Petty Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark, secondly his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and thirdly as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge.

Contents

Biography [edit]

Early life [edit]

Born in Chelsea, London, to a family descended from Huguenots (the name was an Anglicisation of "Perthuis"; his full surname being "de Perthuis de Laillevault"[2]), he was the son of noted screenwriter and actor Roland Pertwee and distant cousin of actor Bill Pertwee, who played Chief Warden Hodges in the comedy Dad's Army (coincidentally, Jon Pertwee was the writers' first choice for the role of Captain George Mainwaring in Dad's Army). The actor Henry Ainley, a close friend of his father, was his godfather and Ainley's son Anthony appeared alongside Pertwee in the 1983 Doctor Who anniversary story The Five Doctors.

Education [edit]

Pertwee was educated at Frensham Heights School, an independent school in Rowledge, near Farnham in Surrey, at Sherborne School in Sherborne in Dorset, and at some other schools from which he was expelled. After school, he went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), from which he was also expelled after he refused to play a Greek "wind" during one of the lessons, feeling it was a waste of both his time and his father's money. He was also accused of writing graffiti about the tutors on the toilet walls.[3]

Early career [edit]

Pertwee was an officer in the Royal Navy, spending some time attached to the highly-secretive Naval Intelligence during the Second World War, working alongside James Bond author Ian Fleming and reporting directly to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In a 1994 interview (not published until 2013) he said "I did all sorts. Teaching commandos how to use escapology equipment, compasses in brass buttons, secret maps in white cotton handkerchiefs, pipes you could smoke that also fired a .22 bullet. All sorts of incredible things."[4] He was a crew member of HMS Hood and was transferred off the ship for officer training shortly before she was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck, losing all but three men. During his time in the Navy Pertwee woke up one morning after a drunken night out while in port to find a tattoo of a cobra on his right arm.

After the war he made a name for himself as a comedy actor on radio in Waterlogged Spa, alongside Eric Barker and Puffney Post Office in which he played a hapless old postman with the catch-phrase "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you tears them up". From 1959 to 1977, he had a long-running role as the conniving Chief Petty Officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. He was known as a Danny Kaye look-alike, and his impersonation of Kaye can be seen in the 1949 film Murder at the Windmill.[5]

On stage, he played the part of Lycus in the 1963 London production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Frankie Howerd and appeared in the smaller role of Crassus in the 1966 film version. He appeared as Sidney Tait in the 1963 comedy Ladies Who Do. In 1966, Pertwee starred alongside Donald Sinden in the original West End production of the long-running comedy There's a Girl in My Soup and also appeared in four Carry On films: Carry On Cleo (1964, as the soothsayer), Carry On Screaming (1966, as Dr. Fettle), Carry On Cowboy (1965, as Sheriff Earp) and Carry On Columbus (1992, as the Duke of Costa Brava). On television, he started off with small parts in children's shows like Mr Pastry. Later he made an appearance in The Avengers episode "From Venus with Love" as Brigadier Whitehead, and in the 1970s, he guest-starred as a vicar in The Goodies' episode "Wacky Wales".

He had one of his most memorable film roles in the Amicus horror compendium The House That Dripped Blood (1971). Filmed in the summer of 1970, between his first and second Doctor Who seasons, Pertwee played the lead in the last segment of the film as Paul Henderson, a deliciously arrogant horror film star who meets his quasi-comedic doom thanks to a genuine vampire cloak.

He was married twice, first in 1955[6] to Jean Marsh (1955–1960), whom he divorced, and then, on 13 August 1960,[7] to Ingeborg Rhoesa, by whom he had two children, a son Sean who is an actor and a daughter, Dariel.

Doctor Who (1970–1974) [edit]

In 1969, Pertwee was selected by producer Peter Bryant to take over as the Doctor from Patrick Troughton in the television series Doctor Who. Pertwee had asked his agent to apply for the role for him and was surprised to find he was already on the shortlist for the role. He was the second choice of the producer; Ron Moody was the first but was unavailable.[8] In a departure from the Doctor's first two incarnations, Pertwee played the character as an active crusader with a penchant for action and fancy clothes, even while the character was exiled on Earth and serving with UNIT. He played the Doctor for five seasons from early 1970 to mid-1974, a longer stint than either of his predecessors in the role, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, although he appeared in fewer episodes than Hartnell. In early 1974, Pertwee announced he would step down as the Doctor in order to resume his stage career in The Bedwinner, also citing typecasting in the role as the reason for leaving, though later he would say that the catalyst for his departure was the death of his good friend and co-star Roger Delgado and the departures of co-star Katy Manning and producer Barry Letts. His last full-time appearance in the series was in the story "Planet of the Spiders"' in June 1974, and Tom Baker replaced him in the role. Pertwee later reprised the role in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors, in two radio adventures and on stage in Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure. On 14 April 1971, Pertwee was the subject of Thames Television's This Is Your Life which featured the first television appearance of his son Sean Pertwee, who went on to become an actor.

Worzel Gummidge [edit]

After a stint between 1974 and 1978 as the host of the Thames Television murder-mystery game show Whodunnit!, Pertwee took the starring role in Worzel Gummidge, based on the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd. First aired in 1979 on ITV, the series saw Pertwee as a scarecrow, as well as utilising several comedic voices. The show was an immediate hit and ran on the channel until 1981. Keen to continue beyond this, Pertwee campaigned for the series and it was picked up by a New Zealand TV network in 1987. Worzel Gummidge Down Under aired for the next two years and was screened in the UK on Channel 4. In 1995, Pertwee played the role one last time in a one-off special for ITV, which celebrated 40 years of the channel. Pertwee also played the character on stage and recorded an album, Worzel Gummidge Sings, as well as a Christmas single.

Other roles [edit]

In 1976, Pertwee voiced and appeared in the television advertisement which promoted the Green Cross Code by use of the mnemonic "SPLINK". He also voiced the character of "Spotty" in the 1980s cartoon series SuperTed and in 1985 he starred in Do You Know The Milkyway?, a television adaptation of Karl Wittlinger's stage play in which he played Dr. Neuross and another nine characters. In 1995 Pertwee also had the key voice of Death and other voice characterisations in the PC and PlayStation renditions of "Discworld". Also in 1995, Jon Pertwee played General Von Kramer in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Attack of the Hawkmen".

Later life [edit]

He returned to the role of the Doctor in the 1983 20th anniversary television special The Five Doctors and in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time for Children in Need. He also portrayed the Doctor in the stage play Doctor Who – The Ultimate Adventure which toured theatres in the United Kingdom from March to June 1989. 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 and also spoofed the role in the Radio 4 comedy The Skivers. He also presented the Doctor Who video releases The Troughton Years (showcasing selected surviving episodes of otherwise wiped stories) and The Pertwee Years (a lookback at his time on the show, with his three selected episodes) in the early 1990s.

In 1993, Pertwee was featured in the unofficial 30th anniversary VHS release of Doctor Who entitled '30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond'. When asked in an interview for this documentary if the show should be brought back he simply replied with 'No...no'. Pertwee would continue to act in films and television as well as make appearances worldwide in support of Doctor Who. 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.

In late 1995, he appeared in Devious, an amateur video drama set between the second Doctor's trial at the end of The War Games and before the start of Spearhead From Space, which shows an interim (between second and third) Doctor played by Tony Garner being told he was "never meant to be the Doctor" and that the third, will complete him. Pertwee's scenes in that role are the only pieces of the video that have been released (on the DVD of The War Games).

Pertwee's final film role was in a short film, Cloud Cuckoo for Scottish Screen, released on 18 June 1994. His last formal television appearance was on Cilla's Surprise, Surprise, broadcast on 21 April 1996. At the date of his death, Pertwee was regularly being seen at the tail end of an enigmatic UK TV commercial for mobile phone operator Vodafone: dressed somewhat in his flamboyant 'Doctor' manner, his character walked wordlessly across an alleyway in sight of a Liverpool landmark, and entered a garage evidently containing some kind of 'time machine'.

Death and legacy [edit]

Pertwee continued on the convention circuit and with his voice and television acting until his death from a heart attack in Connecticut on 20 May 1996, two months before his 77th birthday. (Some reports place the location of his death in New York.) He was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium with a toy Worzel Gummidge affixed to the coffin, following the instructions in his will.[9][10]

He died only days after the American broadcast of the Doctor Who television film, which used in its opening credits a logo based on the one from his era of the television series. The BBC broadcast of the television film featured a dedication to Pertwee at its end.

His last association with the series was posthumous. With the approval of his widow, Ingeborg, his voice was utilised as part of the plot of the Big Finish Productions' 40th Anniversary Doctor Who audio drama, Zagreus, appearing as messages from the Doctor's TARDIS as it attempted to help the currently corrupted Eighth Doctor (voiced by Paul McGann). Pertwee's voice was culled from a fan-produced Doctor Who film Devious, portions of which were recorded just prior to his death.

Pertwee wrote two autobiographies: Moon Boots and Dinner Suits (published in 1984), which primarily covers his life and career prior to Doctor Who, and the posthumously published Doctor Who: I Am the Doctor – Jon Pertwee’s Final Memoir (published in 1996 by Virgin Publishing Ltd and co-written with David J. Howe), which covered his life during and after the series. In 2000, Jon Pertwee: The Biography by Bernard Bale (ISBN 0-233-99831-4) was published by André Deutsch, and included a few chapters by Pertwee's widow Ingeborg.

Discography [edit]

Cover of the 1972 ""Who is the Doctor" single
  • In 1966 Pertwee contributed to the children's album Children's Favourites by EMI and Paul Hamlyn. Songs sung by him include "The Runaway Train", "Froggy Went A-Courtin'", "My Grandfather's Clock", "Three Little Fishes" and "I Know An Old Lady". Published by Music for Pleasure in mono (catalogue MDP 1175), the recordings were produced by Norman Newell, with a synopsis written on the back by Roger St. Pierre. On the front cover is the picture of a glove puppet by Carol Patmore & Rima Reed. At least one of the songs, "The Runaway Train" (b/w "The Ugly Duckling"), was released as a single on Music for Pleasure (catalogue FP 10).
  • In 1972 he released, with June Whitfield, "Wonderful Children's Songs" on the Contour label (catalogue 2870191)
  • In 1972, while still in the role of the Doctor, he released a vocal narration over the Doctor Who theme music entitled "Who is the Doctor", on Purple Records.
  • In 1976 he recorded a promotional flexi-disc for Heinz called "The Noodle Doodle Man".[11]
  • In 1980 he released "Worzel's Song", from the album Worzel Gummidge Sings.[12] The single reached No.33 on the UK charts in March.[13] A second single was released in 1987 when the series was revived, but this met with less success. Also released was a single of "Yesterday", semi-spoken word and "When I'm 64", in the guise of Worzel to aid a hospital charity.
  • Other chart action came in 1993 when an audio release of the radio play The Paradise of Death reached No.48 in the album charts.[14]
  • In 1984 He featured in the computer game audio tape of Deus Ex Machina by Automata UK, released for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1984.[15]

Filmography [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ GRO Register of Births: SEP 1919 1a 132 KENSINGTON – John D. R. Pertwee, mmn = Scholts
  2. ^ An Hour with Jon Pertwee, broadcast by BBC7 on 30 March 2009
  3. ^ Tim Cooper, "Heart attack kills dandy Doctor Who", The Evening Standard, 20 May 1996
  4. ^ Marc Horne "Double-O-Who? Jon Pertwee's secret life as a wartime agent... years before he did battle with the Daleks", maionline, 23 February 2013
  5. ^ Windmill Theatre#Film depictions Windmill Theatre
  6. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: JUN 1955 5f 63 MIDDLESEX S. – Jon D. R. Pertwee = Jeann L. T. Marsh
  7. ^ GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1960 6a 1385 WYCOMBE – Jon D. R. Pertwee = Ingeborg R. Rhosa
  8. ^ BBC Radio 4 An Hour with Jon Pertwee
  9. ^ Hewitt, Nik. "Jon Pertwee : Obituary - ThisIsAnnouncements". Lastingtribute.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-04-22. 
  10. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0675727/bio
  11. ^ [1][dead link]
  12. ^ Worzel Gummidge at Nostalgia Central
  13. ^ Chart Stats - Jon Pertwee - Worzel's Song
  14. ^ Chart Stats - BBC cast - Doctor Who the paradise of death
  15. ^ "Deus Ex Machina". World Of Spectrum. 

External links [edit]

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