The Doctors Who's Who (8 page)

After
Doctor Who
, Troughton took on many more memorable roles, just as he had before playing the Doctor. To him, Doctor Who was just one in a long line of characters and something he was happy to move on from. In 1983, while shooting ‘The Five Doctors’ on location in Wales, producer John Nathan-Turner and former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee spent some time persuading Troughton to attend the special 20th anniversary convention at Longleat. Nathan-Turner remembered, ‘Jon Pertwee and I persuaded him to do it. And then he did cartwheels to get out of it. And [eventually] he said, “I’m not going to get out of this, am I?” and I said, “No!”’

Troughton was a little reluctant to get too involved in the convention circuit, something Pertwee loved and embraced with open arms, but Troughton didn’t put
Doctor Who
on a pedestal over his other work. However, always the professional, he did eventually get into the swing of things and set up a comic banter with his successor, as Pertwee explained
in one interview: ‘We are tremendously fond of each other, but we made out we didn’t get along at conventions because Pat’s Doctor and mine didn’t get on in “The Three Doctors”. So it was all an act!’ And it was a fine one, too, causing all sorts of fun interaction for the audience to enjoy.

As soon as Pertwee had taken over the TARDIS reins in 1970, Troughton was already hard at work on another major project,
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
, playing the noble part of the Duke of Norfolk. This re-established him as a serious character actor alongside Keith Mitchell’s memorable Henry VIII. Although this colour interpretation of the historical accounts has the usual hint of dramatic licence, it still brings home the horror of the plight of the King’s wives and made good quality television, which is still enjoyed today.

Fantastical roles always appealed to Troughton and one of his most memorable was as Father Brennan, the tortured priest in
The Omen
(1976). This was a tremendous part and allowed him to adopt an Irish accent and pester Gregory Peck to murder his adopted son, who just happened to be the Devil’s spawn.

The Omen
is regarded as one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but in actual fact it is a quality thriller, with a choice cast including Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner and Billie Whitelaw.

Whitelaw was terrifying in the film and proved that the most evil person can be the one who looks normal. But Troughton didn’t look that normal in the movie: he had to play a desperate priest, a man with terminal cancer who papered the walls of his home with pages from the Bible and was desperate to tell Peck and Remick the truth about their son Damien. His thick Irish accent, his deathly pale features, inner frustration and desperation to be heard – his inner turmoil – made Troughton’s role a truly memorable one, and his death scene is
one of the most iconic in movie history. Couple that with a haunting score by the legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith, and you have cinematic history that is impossible to remake with any extra credit.

After
The Omen
, Troughton took a part (wise man Melanthius) in
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
(1977), one of Ray Harryhausen’s last stop-motion movies. He had, of course, played the blind man, Phineas, in Harryhausen’s classic
Jason and the Argonauts
(1963) before
Doctor Who
, so he was not offered such parts because of his connection with the show. Indeed, he played alongside Christopher Lee in three Hammer Horror classics:
The Curse of Frankenstein
(1957),
The Gorgon
(1964) and
Scars of Dracula
(1970) (taking the small roles of Kurt, Inspector Kanof and Klove respectively). He also played alongside Cushing again in
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell
(Hammer, 1973), so the role of the Doctor had no ill effect on his career at all; there was a strong similarity in his roles either side of the
Doctor Who
years.

Despite
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
being a Ray Harryhausen movie, the film was quite poor. It was the fourth
Sinbad
movie and clearly ideas were no longer plentiful. The over-dubbing was considered annoying to begin with, and Harryhausen’s bony demons were a poor relation to his killer skeletons from
Jason and the Argonauts
, over 15 years previous.

Jane Seymour is the obligatory love interest (just as Caroline Munro was in the previous Sinbad film,
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
, which starred Tom Baker). That said, the wicked Zenobia (Margaret Whiting), is an unconvincing counterpart to Tom Baker’s wizard from the previous film. She physically ages due to her deals with demons and the prince of darkness, but in a more comic than gothic way.

Although
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
gave the appearance of being more expensive in budget than its predecessors, it was an unimaginative story that walked down tried and tested pathways with little additional imagination. But what of Patrick Troughton’s performance?

Troughton was an inspired piece of casting. As Melanthius the wise man, he lives with his daughter in a dead city on a desert island. He starts off cantankerous and vain, but manages to muster a sense of wonder and amazement that brings a whole new dimension to the movie, albeit a third of the way through.

While most of the cast appear to try to dazzle the audience with their stunning good looks, Troughton settles down behind his big bushy grey beard with an ever-building sense of humour (which must surely have been as contagious off camera as on). One can probably see a little of the Doctor in his character, especially when an experiment he is conducting goes wrong and explodes, to his immense joy.

To this day,
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
is Sunday-afternoon family fodder – it’s unfortunately just a little lazy in its creativity in comparison to other movies in the
Sinbad
series, and especially the Ray Harryhausen canon.

Troughton’s love of popping in and out of familiar roles is clearly shown in his strong ties to two particular novels of Robert Louis Stevenson,
Kidnapped
and
Treasure Island
. Despite having a part in the Disney classic of 1950, Troughton returned to
Treasure Island
in the 1977 TV series, playing the part of Israel Hands. His portrayal of the infamous swashbuckler Alan Breck in 1952 and 1956 in TV versions of
Kidnapped
were mentioned as career highlights by Troughton shortly before his death in the 1980s. There were some stories he revisited throughout his career,
Robin Hood
being another one and, of course,
Doctor Who
, to which he returned three times.

Troughton enjoyed dabbling. He even dabbled in the soaps, with a role in the longest-running soap of all,
Coronation Street
, playing the part of George Barton in 1974. So his character actor status was fully appreciated by all sorts of casting directors, not just those associated with action and fantasy.

Troughton continued to work hard, taking on cameo roles in
All Creatures Great and Small
(opposite future Doctor Who Peter Davison in an episode entitled ‘Hair of the Dog’), and
The Two Ronnies 1984 Christmas Special
(as a cantankerous judge). He also appeared as concerned Italian father Joe Mancini in the hit TV series
Minder
in an episode called ‘Windows’. His performance, alongside regulars George Cole (Arthur Daley) and Dennis Waterman (Terry McCann), was memorable and is one of his finest one-off roles, full of fatherly love and compassion.

Troughton took more of a permanent role in the ITV sitcom
The Two of Us
with Nicholas Lyndhurst in 1986 (on a rowing machine in one memorable scene, despite suffering severe heart attacks in 1978 and 1984 respectively). He was also the first person ever to be murdered in
Inspector Morse
(George Jackson in the very first story ‘The Dead of Jericho’) in 1987. His last performances were in the TV comedy
Supergran
and
Knights of God
, also in 1987; although
Knights of God
was the last programme to be broadcast (13 episodes in the autumn of 1987), it had been recorded two years previously.

Troughton died on 28 March 1987, in Atlanta, USA. He was attending the Magnum Opus Con II in Columbus, Georgia. While taking part in the panel Q&A, two days after his 67th birthday, he complained of feeling unwell and retired to his room. He suffered a fatal heart attack the following morning
after ordering his breakfast at 7.25am and was found lying on the floor. On arrival at the hospital, he was pronounced dead.

Troughton had been warned about over-exerting himself before making the trip to America, but he had appeared to be in fine spirits and was planning a belated birthday party the following weekend after a special screening – at his own request – of his
Doctor Who
story, ‘The Dominators’.

When people discuss Troughton’s great roles, the part of the Doctor is always there, but his Quilp and Breck, even so long ago, are also considered classic performances. He himself cited Quilp as his very best role, with Doctor Who in second place. His portrayal of Cole Hawlings in the BBC six-part fantasy for children
The Box of Delights
was another memorable part played towards the end of his life, and one for which he was highly praised by
Doctor Who
fans and critics alike.

If we look at the role of Hawlings alongside that of Father Brennan in The Omen, and then his roles in
The Old Curiosity Shop, Coronation Street
and
Doctor Who
, Troughton’s diversity and skill as a character actor is readily showcased and appreciated. Of course
Jason and the Argonauts
is a respected part of cinematic history, as is Disney’s
Treasure Island
, with his cameo roles further enhancing his passion for work. Perhaps more should be done to highlight his role as Daniel Quilp in
The Old Curiosity Shop
, but the BBC, and even ITV, keep making new adaptations of classic novels rather than reshowing (or retaining) the old ones, so we are deprived of some of Troughton’s finest roles, not just some of his
Doctor Who
stories.

Patrick Troughton was the quintessential British character actor, never staying in one place – or one role – for too long. Perhaps
Doctor Who
fans were initially upset by this, especially the way he would talk about his other parts with equal or more
love, but they soon came to understand why Troughton was sometimes shy of public appearances and interviews: he didn’t want to give too much of himself away, or for them to get to know his true character. ‘You see, I think acting is magic,’ he said. ‘If I tell you all about myself it will spoil it.’

Like many of the other Doctor Whos, Troughton didn’t want to break the magic of the role for children. When confronted by a journalist during his time as the Doctor he said, ‘I never give interviews. Just tell them that I am that mystery man of television, Doctor Who.’

Troughton was aware of the power of the role, the command that it had in the acting profession and upon the general public. He treated it with respect but couldn’t resist returning to it more times than any other Doctor: first in 1973 for ‘The Three Doctors’, then in 1983 for ‘The Five Doctors’ and yet again – because he enjoyed the comeback so much – in 1985, for ‘The Two Doctors’. This last appearance – an excellent storyline featuring his faithful companion Jamie alongside current incumbents Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant – showed his love for the role (through one ‘dinner party’ scene at least, where he is momentarily transformed into a creature with a love of human flesh with a counterpart chef from the same carnivorous race). He also admitted that he loved the Sontarans, great monsters that he had never encountered before.

All of these return visits show that there was a place in Troughton’s heart for
Doctor Who
right up until his untimely death, but let us not forget his other, now largely overlooked, roles.

Doctor Who was neither saint nor sinner to Patrick Troughton. What the role of the Doctor has done is to forever keep him in the minds of the young – as the immortality of
Doctor Who
will keep him and his work alive and, perhaps,
tempt some people into finding old Troughton gems on TV and DVD. Sadly, there are not many of them remaining to find.

‘It now seems so long ago that I played the part of the Doctor that there is really very little I can add to what has already been written. And, of course, I’ve played so many different parts in the last forty years.’

Patrick Troughton from ‘Doctor Who Indulged My Passion for Clowning’
Doctor Who – A Celebration, Two Decades
Through Time and Space
, Peter Haining

Before moving on to the life and career of Jon Pertwee, I wish to underline the fact that Patrick Troughton’s life and non-
Doctor-Who
career is dreadfully underrated, maybe because records of so many of his important early TV roles no longer exist, such as
Robin Hood, Gunpowder Guy
and
Kidnapped
. In many ways, he is a forgotten actor, let alone the lost Doctor. One thing I want to mention here is his fantastic performance as Adolf Hitler in the Gateway Theatre production of
Eva Braun
. This was in 1950, when feelings about the Nazis still ran high, but he did it and he did it well, avoiding outrage or criticism, and this understanding of his craft, and his instinct for how much he could get away with, was one of his greatest assets.

Patrick Troughton isn’t overlooked nowadays, he is still remembered as one of the greatest Doctor Whos; he also has a legacy through his family. His daughter’s son is Harry Potter’s nemesis Dudley Dursley (Harry Melling). His son David Troughton – apart from being an accomplished Shakespearean actor – appeared in
Doctor Who
during his father’s time, in stories ‘The Enemy of the World’ and ‘The War Games’, and also played a more substantial role as the dashing King Peladon
opposite Jon Pertwee’s Doctor in ‘The Curse of Peladon’, and Professor Hobbes in David Tennant’s excellent story ‘Midnight’. He even played the second Doctor in two audio
Doctor Who
stories in 2011. David Troughton’s brother Michael is an actor and teacher, most notable for playing opposite Rik Mayall in
The New Statesman
as Sir Piers Fletcher-Dervish.