The Pertwee Years

John Devon Roland Pertwee (he dropped the 'h' from 'John' after a playbill mis-spelled his name in the 1930s) was born in Kensington on 7 July 1919 into a theatrical family. His parents, actor-playwright Roland Pertwee and stage actress Avice Scholtz, separated when he was young and he was raised by his paternal grandmother. Brother Michael would later become a film and stage writer and cousin Bill a comic actor. Jon appeared in two television specials of Merry-Go-Round had appeared as early as 1947, but Pertwee's TV appearances at this time were mostly limited to guest slots on variety bills such as The Dickie Henderson Show, although he starred with Norman Evans in four sitcom/variety specials Evans Abode (BBC, 1956-57). Pertwee took notable cameos in three Carry On movies between 1964 and 1966 (all d. Gerald Thomas); ...Screaming, ...Cleo and ...Cowboy. His stage career was also doing well and in 1967 he found himself in There's a Girl in My Soup on Broadway. It was while there that he was invited to star in an armed forces BBC sitcom by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. Pertwee having turned it down, Perry turned to Arthur Lowe to play Captain Mainwaring in what turned out to be Dad's Army (BBC, 1968-77). Although passing up one shot at television immortality, in January 1969 Pertwee was approached to take over from Patrick Troughton as Doctor Who (BBC, 1963-89; 1996; 2005- ). Producer Peter Bryant imagined Pertwee the entertainer playing it funny voices but on the advice of old friend Shaun Sutton (then BBC Head of Drama) Pertwee played it 'as himself'. Pertwee brought his love of gadgets and fast cars to the role. The third Doctor drove a vintage car, Bessie, and Pertwee even got his own exotic custom car onto the programme as 'the Whomobile'. Debuting in January 1970 with the series' first colour episodes, his Doctor was less anti-authority than his predecessors, stranded on Earth and throwing in his lot with paramilitary organisation UNIT. Slightly showy, operatic and vain, wearing flamboyant velvet jackets and silk-lined cloaks, the character drew on Pertwee's own unabashed showmanship. Nine million viewers regularly tuned in. The death in a car crash of his co-star Roger Delgado, who had played arch-enemy The Master, prompted a steady exodus of personnel and Pertwee bowed out in June 1974.

Channel: Entertainment
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: simontimelord

Length: 10:00
Rating: 5.00
Views: 4153

Tags: Dr  Jon  Pertwee  Who  

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