John Anthony Woods (born 24 December 1941), known professionally as John Levene, is an English actor, producer, entertainer and singer. Although he has appeared in a large number of films and television series, Levene's best-known role is that of Sergeant Benton, of UNIT in the science-fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1968 to 1975.
Early life
Levene was born John Anthony Woods in Salisbury, Wiltshire, on Christmas Eve 1941, the eldest child of Austin and Vera Woods (née Blake); he has a younger brother called Michael. Levene was born breeched, jaundiced and was dead for the first couple of minutes of his life after he suffocated from a piece of afterbirth being stuck in his airways and his heart stopped beating for two minutes until the doctor removed the blockage. Levene's father was a sergeant in the army and was on board the ; upon his return he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal by King George VI. before appearing in The Invasion (1968), again as a Cyberman, in the iconic scene where the Cybermen march down the steps in front of St. Paul's Cathedral.
After Doctor Who
In 1977, following his final appearance on Doctor Who, Levene gave up acting as a career to set up his own audio-visual company, Genesis Communications. He has since directed more than 45 audio-visuals and live events for various clients including the Ford Motor Company, British Airways, KFC, Amway and Revlon.
In 1983, Levene turned down the opportunity to reprise the role of Benton for the 20th-anniversary Doctor Who special "The Five Doctors". Five years later he did return to the role for the 1988 Reeltime Pictures video production Wartime.
Levene has worked as an entertainer on cruise liners and has also lived in the United States, where he returned to acting under the name John Anthony Blake. ("Blake" was the maiden name of Levene's mother, and as he informed the writers Steve Lyons and Christopher Howarth, he had had a much better relationship with her than with his father.) He has also performed voice-over work for Disney and The Queen Mary Hotel, among other companies.
Levene's most recent acting work was in an independent film titled Satan Hates You. He has also appeared in an episode of Big Bad Beetleborgs and industrial videos. In 2008, Levene co-starred with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred in Twice Upon a Timelord, a video production in which the Seventh Doctor and Ace attend Benton's wedding.
Levene's music album The Ballads of Sergeant Benton was released in September 2012. The same year, he returned to the UK to promote himself and his album at a number of Doctor Who events. In 2015 he recorded vocals for an audio adaptation of the Doctor Who charity novel Time's Champion.
In September 2017, he joined other Doctor Who stars, including showrunner Steven Moffat, in recording audio contributions for the YouTube anniversary video of multimedia artist Stuart Humphryes.
Levene has also reprised the character of Sergeant Benton for the Big Finish Doctor Who audio series in Council of War (2013), UNIT: Assembled (2017), The Scream of Ghosts (2019) and Poison of the Daleks (2020).
In 2019, Levene published his autobiography, entitled Run the Shadows, Walk the Sun.