Patrick Troughton

Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor. He was best known for his work as a character actor in television, most notably starring as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role three times between 1972 and 1985.

Classically trained, Troughton's early work included appearances in Laurence Olivier's films Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955), and he later appeared in genre films including Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Gorgon (1964), Scars of Dracula (1970) and The Omen (1976), as well as the fantasy television series The Box of Delights (1984).

Early life and education

Patrick George Troughton was born on 25 March 1920 in Mill Hill, Middlesex, to Alec George Troughton (1887–1953), a solicitor, and Dorothy Evelyn Offord (1886–1979). His parents married in Edmonton, London in 1914. Patrick had an elder brother, Alec Robert (1915–1994), and a younger sister, Mary Edith (1923–2005).

Patrick made his first foray into show business when he attended a kindergarten ballet class run by Pearl Argyle. Troughton boarded at Bexhill Prep School for five years, then attended Mill Hill School. As a teen he acted in school productions. At Mill Hill School he acted in a production of J. B. Priestley's Bees on the Boat Deck in March 1937. The school later named their Patrick Troughton theatre after him. He was deployed on East Coast Convoy duty from February to August 1941, and then with Coastal Forces' Motor Gun Boats based at Great Yarmouth from November 1942 to 1945, operating in the North Sea and English Channel. During his service with the MGBs, he was on one occasion involved in an action against Kriegsmarine E-boats which resulted in one of the enemy craft being destroyed by ramming, whilst Troughton's boat and another destroyed two more with their gunfire. His decorations included the 1939–1945 Star, the Atlantic Star, and he was mentioned in dispatches "for outstanding courage, leadership and skill in many daring attacks on enemy shipping in hostile waters". He used to wear a tea cosy on his head in cold weather in the North Sea.

Career

Early career

thumb|right|Troughton in a promotional photograph for [[R.U.R. in Radio Times, February 1948]]

After demobilisation, Troughton returned to the theatre. He worked with the Amersham Repertory Company, the Bristol Old Vic Company and a minor role as a pirate in Disney's Treasure Island (1950), appearing only during the attack on the heroes' hut. Television, though, was his favourite medium. In 1953, he became the first actor to play the folk hero Robin Hood on television, starring in six half-hour episodes broadcast from 17 March to 21 April on the BBC, and titled simply Robin Hood. Troughton would also make several appearances in The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene. He appeared as the murderer Tyrrell in Olivier's film of Richard III (1955). He was also Olivier's stand-in on the film and appears in many long shots as Richard. He voiced Winston Smith in a 1965 BBC Home Service radio adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Prior to Doctor Who he appeared in numerous TV shows, including The Count of Monte Cristo, Ivanhoe, Dial 999, Danger Man, Maigret, Compact, The Third Man, Crane, Detective, Sherlock Holmes, No Hiding Place, The Saint, Armchair Theatre, The Wednesday Play, Z-Cars, Adam Adamant Lives! and Softly, Softly.

Troughton was offered the part of Johnny Ringo in the Doctor Who story The Gunfighters but turned it down.

Doctor Who

thumb|Troughton with [[Deborah Watling during the filming of The Abominable Snowmen]]

In 1966, Doctor Who producer Innes Lloyd looked for a replacement for William Hartnell in the series' lead role. The continued survival of the show depended on audiences accepting another actor in the role, despite 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". 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 turban. Doctor Who creator Sydney Newman suggested that the Doctor could be a "cosmic hobo" in the mould of Charlie Chaplin, and this was the interpretation eventually chosen. Troughton was the first Doctor to have his face appear in the opening titles of the show. In one serial, The Enemy of the World, Troughton played two parts: as the protagonist (The Doctor) and the antagonist (Salamander).

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". 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.

In a rare interview with Ernest Thompson from Radio Times, Troughton revealed that he "always liked dressing up, and would have been happy as a school teacher as children keep one young". 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.

Many of the early episodes in which Troughton appeared were among those discarded by the BBC. Troughton found Doctor Whos schedule (at the time, 40 to 44 episodes per year) 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 being typecast.

thumb|right|Troughton at a convention in [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul in October 1986]]

Troughton returned to Doctor Who three times after formally leaving the programme. The first of these occasions was in The Three Doctors, the 1972–73 serial opening the programme's 10th series. In 1983, 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, including the show's 20th anniversary celebrations at Longleat in 1983. He also appeared 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 Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison to limit his time in the role to three series to avoid typecasting and the younger actor followed this advice.

In 2013, the BBC commissioned a docudrama about the early days of Doctor Who, as part of the programme's fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. Troughton appears as a character in the production, called An Adventure in Space and Time, portrayed by actor Reece Shearsmith.

In 2014's "Robot of Sherwood", a still image of Troughton from 1953 appears among the future depictions of Robin Hood displayed by the Twelfth Doctor to the outlaw.

Later career

thumb|Troughton (left) with [[Gregory Peck in a publicity still for the film The Omen (1976)]]

After Troughton left Doctor Who in 1969, he appeared in various films and television roles. Film roles included Clove in Scars of Dracula (1970), Softly, Softly: Task Force, Colditz, Play for Today, Z-Cars, Special Branch, Sutherland's Law, The Sweeney, Only When I Laugh (Series 2 Episode 9), Nanny and Minder (in a March 1984 episode titled "Windows", Season 4 Episode 9). He also portrayed Cole Hawlings in a BBC Television dramatisation of the John Masefield children's book The Box of Delights (1984). playing a judge.

Troughton's health was never completely robust due to heavy drinking and smoking (he had quit smoking in the 1960s, but the damage had already been done). Later in his life he refused to accept his doctor's advice after he had developed a serious heart condition through overwork and stress. He suffered two major heart attacks, one in 1979 and the other in 1984, both of which prevented him from working for several months afterwards. Following each of these attacks, his doctor's warnings were again ignored, as Troughton committed himself to a heavy TV and film schedule.

Troughton featured in the 1974 11-part radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour. In 1986, he was a regular in the first series of the LWT sitcom The Two of Us, and guested in an episode of Super Gran in May 1987, which was the last role he filmed. His final television appearance was in the autumn of the same year in Knights of God, which had been filmed two years earlier. Troughton also appeared in the first episode of Central Independent Television's Inspector Morse, entitled "The Dead of Jericho", While Troughton never married Nuens, in 1976 he did marry Shelagh Holdup and acquired two stepchildren.

Troughton's six children are:

Joanna Troughton (born 1947, to Troughton and Dunlop), author and illustrator of children's books
David Troughton (born 1950, to Troughton and Dunlop), actor
Michael Troughton (born 1955, to Troughton and Dunlop), actor
William Troughton (son of David Troughton), an actor who plays Tom Archer in The Archers
Harry Melling (son of Joanna Troughton), an actor, known for Dudley Dursley He participated in a Q&A session on 27 March. The following day, 28 March, Troughton ordered breakfast from his hotel room and shortly afterwards suffered a fatal heart attack. He was pronounced dead at the Medical Center in Columbus.

Troughton was certified dead at the Medical Center (now Piedmont Columbus Regional) in Columbus, Georgia. After a local cremation, his ashes were flown back to the United Kingdom. During the passage to the United Kingdom, the ashes were mislaid temporarily. This delayed his funeral by a few weeks. His widow, Shelagh, later scattered them beneath a newly planted tree in Bushy Park, a favourite place of Troughton's near to his family home in Teddington.

Filmography

Film

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

|rowspan=3|1948||Escape||Jim the Shepherd||

|Hamlet||Player King||

|The Red Shoes||BBC Radio Announcer||voice, uncredited

|rowspan=2|1949||Badger's Green||Jim Carter||

|Cardboard Cavalier||Executed Man||uncredited

|rowspan=4|1950||Chance of a Lifetime||William Kettle||

|Treasure Island||Roach||

|Waterfront||Sam||uncredited

|The Woman with No Name||Colin||

|rowspan=2|1951||The Franchise Affair||Bill Brough||

|White Corridors||Sailor||

|1954||The Black Knight||King Mark||

|1955||Richard III||Tyrell||

|1956||1984||Man on Telescreen||uncredited

|1957||The Curse of Frankenstein||Mortuary attendant||uncredited (deleted scenes)

|1958||The Moonraker||Captain Wilcox||

|1962||The Phantom of the Opera||The Rat Catcher||

|1963||Jason and the Argonauts||Phineus||

|rowspan=2|1964||The Gorgon||Inspector Kanof||

|The Black Torment||Ostler – Regis||

|1967||The Viking Queen||Tristram||

|1970||Scars of Dracula||Klove||

|1974||Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell||Bodysnatcher||

|1976||The Omen||Father Brennan||

|1977||Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger||Melanthius||

|1978||A Hitch in Time||Professor Wagstaff||

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! scope="col" style="width: 50px;" | Year

! scope="col" style="width: 300px;" | Title

! Role

! scope="col" style="width: 425px;" | Notes

|rowspan=2|1947||Hamlet||Horatio||rowspan=6|TV film

|Edward II||Baldock

|rowspan=2|1948||King Lear||Edmund

|R.U.R.||Radius, a robot

|1949||Macbeth||Seyton

|1950||The Whole World Over||Nicolai Nekin

|1950–1959

|BBC Sunday-Night Theatre||Various||8 episodes

|1952||Kidnapped||Alan Breck||5 episodes

|1953||Robin Hood||Robin Hood||6 episodes

|rowspan=2|1954||Misalliance||Gunner||TV film

|Clementina||Charles Wogan||6 episodes

|1955–1960

|The Adventures of Robin Hood

|Various

|9 episodes

| rowspan="7" |1956||Kidnapped||Alan Breck||5 episodes

|The Count of Monte Cristo||The Ferret Branza Marcel||3 episodes

|The Scarlet Pimpernel||Sir Andrew Ffoulkes||15 episodes

|One Family||The Tarman||2 episodes

|Nom-de-Plume||Korzeniowski||"The Man from the Sea"

|Theatre Royal||Tailor||Episode: "The Ends of Justice"

|The Buccaneers

|Doorman at Doctor's House

|Episode: "The Surgeon at San Rojo" (uncredited)

| rowspan="3" |1957||Ordeal by Fire||La Hire||TV film

|Precious Bane||Gideon Sarn||6 episodes

|Assignment Foreign Legion||Nadeau||Episode: "The Conquering Hero"

|1957–1958

|Sword of Freedom|| rowspan="2" |Various||4 episodes

|1957–1961

|ITV Television Playhouse

|3 episodes

| rowspan="6" |1958||The Adventures of William Tell||Hanzler||Episode: "The Golden Wheel"

|The Rebel Heiress||Roger Trevanion||TV film

|Queen's Champion||Don Alonzo||Episode: "The Edge of Defeat"

|Ivanhoe||Vignole||Episode: "The Kidnapping"

|The Dangerous Game||Philip Baker||Episode: "Pawns in the Game"

|The New Adventures of Charlie Chan||Pete Wilson||Episode: "Something Old, Something New"

|1958, 1966

|Armchair Theatre

|Ragnar Brovik/Pete

|2 episodes

| rowspan="13" |1959||Three Golden Nobles||Mad Peter||Episode: "The Painter"

|The History of Mr. Polly||Uncle Jim||2 episodes

|H.G.Wells' Invisible Man||Vickers – Currie's Business Partner||Episode: "Strange Partners"

|Interpol Calling||Sukru||Episode: "The Thirteen Innocents"

|The Moonstone||Dark Stranger||1 episode

|The Naked Lady||Bob Dyson||2 episodes

|The Hill||Jesus||TV film (voice)

|The Scarf||Edward Collins||3 episodes

|The Cabin in the Clearing||Simon Kenton||4 episodes

|Dial 999 ||Bill Mace Tramp George||3 episodes

|The Flying Doctor||Ernie||Episode: "A Stranger in Distress"

|The Four Just Men||Inspector Nardi||Episode: "The Night of the Precious Stones"

|No Hiding Place||Blakey||Episode: "The Stalag Story"

| rowspan="8" |1960||International Detective||Silversmith||Episode: "The Marino Case"

|Danger Man||"Bart" Bartello /Brenner||2 episodes

|Paul of Tarsus||Saul Paul||10 episodes

|The Four Just Men||Vito||Episode: "The Moment of Truth"

|The True Mystery of the Passion||Judas||TV film

|The Splendid Spur||Captain Luke Settle||6 episodes

|The Terrible Choice||Lucifer||2 episodes

|No Hiding Place||Percy Clarke||Episode: "Two Blind Mice"

|1960–1962

|BBC Sunday-Night Play

|Various

|3 episodes

| rowspan="3" |1961||Maigret||Gaston Meurant||Episode: "Raise Your Right Hand"

|International Detective||Bela Davos||Episode: "The Martos Case"

|No Hiding Place||Denger Wells||Episode: "Process of Elimination"

|1961–1966

||ITV Play of the Week||Various||6 episodes

| rowspan="7" |1962||The Sword in the Web||Tournay||Episode: "The Alibi"

|Harpers West One||Notril||1 episode

|Man of the World||Thiboeuf||Episode: "Death of a Conference"

|Wuthering Heights||Hindley||TV film

|Compact||Eddie Eddie Goldsmith||Episode: "Musical Evening" Episode: "Efficiency Expert"

|Sir Francis Drake||Gazio||Episode: "The Bridge"

|Dr. Finlay's Casebook||Alex Dean||Episode: "Snap Diagnosis"

|1962–63||The Old Curiosity Shop||Daniel Quilp||11 episodes

|rowspan=4|1963||The Sentimental Agent||Sheikh||Episode: "The Scroll of Islam"

|Espionage||John MacBride||Episode: "He Rises on Sunday and We on Monday"

|No Cloak – No Dagger||Trev||

|Lorna Doone||Judge Jeffreys||Episode: "A Summons to London"

|1963, 1966

|The Saint

|Police Inspector/Inspector Guido Gambetti

|2 episodes

| rowspan="9" |1964||The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling||Mr. Bronckhurst||Episode: "The Bronckhurst Divorce Case11"

|Artists' Notebooks||William Hogarth||Episode: "William Hogarth (1697–1764)"

|HMS Paradise||Capt. Ahab Rudlow||Episode: "Thar's Gold in Them Thar Holes"

|Thorndyke||Frank Belfield||Episode: "The Old Lag"

|Smuggler's Bay||Ratsey||5 episodes

|The Third Man||Luigi Carvossa||Episode: "A Question in Ice"

|Detective||Jasper Shrig||Episode: "The Loring Mystery"

|The Midnight Men||Skoder||Episode: "The Man from Miditz"

|Crane||Hugo Krantz||Episode: "Man Without a Past"

|1964–66||Dr. Finlay's Casebook||Miller/Mr. Miller||5 episodes

|1964–1975

|Z-Cars

|Various

|4 episodes

|rowspan=6|1965||No Hiding Place||Old Starr||Episode: "The Street"

|A Tale of Two Cities||Dr. Manette