William Henry Hartnell 8 January 1908 23 April 1975 also known as Billy Hartnell or Bill Hartnell was an English actor Hartnell played the first incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who from 1963 to 1966 He was also known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw the title character of the first Carry On film Carry On Sergeant in 1958 and Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 until 1958 and again in 1960 Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925 working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays including The Merchant of Venice 1926 Julius Caesar 1926 As You Like It 1926 Hamlet 1926 The Tempest 1926 and Macbeth 1926 He also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer 1926 School for Scandal 1926 and Good Morning Bill 1927 before performing in Miss Elizabeths Prisoner 1928 This play was written by Robert Neilson Stephens and E Lyall Swete It featured the actress Heather McIntyre whom he married during the following year His first of more than sixty film appearances was in Say It With Music 1932 Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead 1944 From then on his career was defined by playing mainly policemen soldiers and thugs Hartnells performance in This Sporting Life was noted by Verity Lambert the producer who was setting up a new sciencefiction television series for the BBC entitled Doctor Who and mainly on the strength of that performance Lambert offered him the title role
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