Patrick Troughton
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| Patrick Troughton | |
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| Birth name | Patrick George Troughton |
| Born | 25 March 1920 Mill Hill, London, England, UK |
| Died | 28 March 1987 (age 67) Columbus, Georgia, USA |
| Notable roles | The Second Doctor in Doctor Who |
Patrick George Troughton (March 25, 1920 – March 28, 1987) was a versatile and prolific English actor best known in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 until 1969.
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[edit] Life
Troughton was born on 25 March 1920 in Mill Hill, England and attended Mill Hill School. He would later attend the Embassy School of Acting at Swiss Cottage, under Eileen Thorndike. After his time at the Embassy School of Acting, Troughton won a scholarship to the Leighton Rallius Studios at the John Drew Memorial Theatre on Long Island in New York, USA. When the Second World War broke out, he returned to Britain on a Belgian ship. The ship hit a mine and sank off the coast of Great Britain, but Troughton was fortunate enough to escape in a lifeboat. Troughton joined the Tonbridge Repertory Company in 1939 and later he joined the Royal Navy in 1940. He attained the rank of captaincy of a motor gunboat on duty in the North Sea.
[edit] Career
[edit] Before Doctor Who
After the war, Troughton returned to the theatre in 1945. He worked with the Amersham Repertory Company, the Bristol Old Vic Company and the Pilgrim Players at the Mercury Theatre in Nottingham. He made his television debut in 1947. In 1948, Troughton made his cinema debut with small roles in Hamlet and the TCF production "Escape" (one of the stars of which was William Hartnell). However, television was his favorite medium. In 1953 he became the first actor to play the famous folk hero Robin Hood on television, starring in six half-hour episodes broadcast from March 17 to April 21 on the BBC, and titled simply Robin Hood (Vahimagi, 42). Troughton's other notable film and television roles included Sir Andrew Ffoulkes in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1954), Phineas in Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop (1962), "Paul of Tarsus" (BBC 1960), title role), Dr. Finlay's Casebook (BBC 1962, semiregular)
[edit] Doctor Who (1966–1969)
In 1966, Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd decided to replace William Hartnell in the series' lead role. The continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the role, especially given the bold decision that the replacement would not be a Hartnell lookalike or soundalike. Lloyd later stated that Hartnell had approved of the choice, saying, "There's only one man in England who can take over, and that's Patrick Troughton" (Howe, Stammers and Walker, 68). Lloyd chose Troughton because of his extensive and versatile experience as a character actor. After he was cast, Troughton considered various ways to approach the role, to differentiate his portrayal from Hartnell's amiable-yet-tetchy patriarch. Troughton's early thoughts about how he might play the Doctor included a "tough sea captain" and a piratical figure in blackface and a turban. Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman suggested that the Doctor could be a "cosmic hobo" in the mold of Charlie Chaplin, and this was the interpretation eventually chosen (Howe, Stammers and Walker, 68–69).
During his time on the series, Troughton tended to shun publicity and rarely gave interviews. He told one interviewer, "I think acting is magic. If I tell you all about myself it will spoil it" (Howe, Stammers and Walker, 72). Years later, he told another interviewer that his greatest concern was that too much publicity would limit his opportunities as a character actor after he left the role (KTEH interview).
Troughton was popular with both the production team and his co-stars. Producer Lloyd credited Troughton with a "leading actor's temperament. He was a father figure to the whole company and hence could embrace it and sweep it along with him." Troughton also gained a reputation on set as a practical joker (Howe, Stammers and Walker, 68, 74).
Regrettably, many of the early episodes in which Troughton appeared were wiped by the BBC (a full list of Doctor Who episodes missing from the BBC Archives is available here). Troughton found Doctor Who's schedule (at this time, 40 to 44 episodes per season) gruelling, and decided to leave the series in 1969, after three years in the role. This decision was also motivated in part by fear of typecasting (Howe, Stammers and Walker, 75; KTEH interview).
Troughton returned to Doctor Who three times after he originally left the programme, becoming the only former "Doctor" actor to have reprised the role that many times after his original run. The first time was in The Three Doctors, a 1973 serial celebrating the programme's 10th anniversary. Ten years later, Troughton overcame some reluctance to reprise his role and agreed to appear in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors at the request of series producer John Nathan-Turner. He also agreed to attend Doctor Who conventions around the world with Nathan-Turner. Troughton enjoyed the return to the programme so much that he readily agreed to appear one more time as the Second Doctor with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors (1985). Reportedly, he also advised a later Doctor actor, Peter Davison, to limit his time in the role to three seasons to avoid being typecast and the young actor followed that advice.
| Preceded by William Hartnell |
The Doctor (Second Doctor) 1966–1969 |
Succeeded by Jon Pertwee |
[edit] After Doctor Who
After Troughton left Doctor Who in 1969, he appeared in various films and television roles. Film roles included Father Brennen in The Omen (1976) and Melanthius in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). Television roles included the Duke of Norfolk in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), a guest starring spot in the comedy series The Goodies in the episode "The Baddies", as well as episodes The Persuaders!, Jason King, Survivors, Minder and Inspector Morse. He also portrayed Cole Hawlings in a BBC television dramatisation of the John Masefield children's book The Box of Delights (1984)
Troughton's health was never entirely robust and later in his life he refused to accept his doctor's advice that he had developed a serious heart condition through overwork and stress. He suffered two major heart attacks in 1978 and 1984 which prevented him from working for several months. Following each of these attacks, his doctor's warnings were again ignored as Troughton committed himself to a heavy TV and film schedule. Troughton also continued to smoke heavily and declined to commit himself to any significant physical exercise despite his worsening health and his early death being predicted as an inevitable consequence by his doctors.
He featured in the 1974 11-part radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour. In 1986 he was a regular in the Thames Television sitcom The Two of Us, and guested in an episode of Supergran in 1987 (the last thing he filmed), before his final television appearance in the same year's Knights of God (although it had been made in 1985).
[edit] Death
On March 27, 1987, Troughton was a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention in Columbus, Georgia. Some attendees later said that Troughton looked clearly unwell at the time, although he appeared to be in good spirits throughout the day's panels and was looking forward to a belated birthday celebration which was planned for the coming Saturday evening as well as a screening of the Doctor Who story The Dominators, which Troughton had requested personally, on the Saturday afternoon.
Troughton suffered a final, fatal, heart attack at 7:25 AM the next day (March 28, 1987) just after he had ordered his breakfast from the hotel staff. According to the paramedics who were called, Troughton had died before he had fallen back onto his bed. He was 67 years old.
[edit] Family
Two of Troughton's sons, David and Michael, are both well-known actors on stage and screen. Three of his grandsons are also making names for themselves. Jim Troughton plays professional cricket for Warwickshire; Sam Troughton is an actor, who appeared in Alien vs. Predator and the 2005 movie Spirit Trap with former Doctor Who star Billie Piper and appears as Much in the 2006 BBC TV version of Robin Hood and has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company; and Harry Melling plays Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films. Another of Troughton's sons, Mark Troughton, is the pastor of York Evangelical Church and previously worked as a missionary in Switzerland.
[edit] References
- Howe, David J., Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker. Doctor Who: The Sixties. London: Virgin Publishing, 1993. ISBN 0-86369-707-0.
- Troughton, Patrick. Interview with Terry Phillips. KTEH, San Jose, California. 1985.
- Vahimagi, Tise. British Television: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press / British Film Institute. 1994. ISBN 0-19-818336-4.
[edit] External links
- Patrick Troughton at the Internet Movie Database
- patricktroughton.com
- Into The Unknown - Patrick Troughton article at Kasterborous.com
- Photo
- Film & TV credits
| The Doctors |
|---|
| First Doctor (William Hartnell) | Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) |
| Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) | Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) |
| Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) | Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) |
| Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) | Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) |
| Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) | Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) |
| Other Doctors |
| Cushing Doctor (Peter Cushing) | Shalka Doctor (Richard E. Grant) |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Troughton, Patrick |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Troughton, Patrick George (full name) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Character Actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 25 March 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mill Hill, London, England, UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | 28 March 1987 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Columbus, Georgia, USA |
