# Roger Delgado

Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto (1 March 1918 – 18 June 1973) was an English actor. He played many roles on television, radio and in films, and had "a long history of playing minor villains" before becoming best known as the first actor to play the Master in Doctor Who (1971–73).

## Early life

Delgado was born in Whitechapel, in the East End of London, to a Belgian mother and a Spanish father; he often remarked to Doctor Who co-star and close friend Jon Pertwee that this made him a true Cockney, as he was born within the sound of Bow Bells. He did not live in the East End, but was brought up in Bedford Park in west London.
He attended Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, a Roman Catholic secondary school in Holland Park, and the London School of Economics for a brief period but did not complete his degree. He served in the Second World War with both the Leicestershire Regiment and the Royal Corps of Signals, attaining the rank of major.

## Career

Delgado worked extensively on the British stage, and on television, film and radio. His theatre debut was in 1939 and his first television appearance was 1948. He appeared in the BBC Television serial Quatermass II (1955), the Powell and Pressburger wartime drama Battle of the River Plate (1956), and came to wide popular attention in Britain when he played the duplicitous Spanish envoy Mendoza in the ITC Entertainment series, Sir Francis Drake, from 1961 to 1962, after which he was in much demand. An in-joke in the 1971 Doctor Who story Colony in Space refers to that role, when the Brigadier tells the Doctor not to worry as the suspected sighting of the Master "was only the Spanish Ambassador". Delgado was frequently cast as a villain, appearing in many British action-adventure TV series by ITC, including Danger Man (1961), The Saint (1962 and 1966), The Champions (1969), and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
Delgado made a total of 16 guest appearances in ITC shows, the most of any actor, with his last completed role being ITC's The Zoo Gang (1974). He also appeared in The Avengers (1961 and 1969), The Power Game (1966), and an ITV Play of the Week (The Crossfire, 1967). His films included The Terror of the Tongs, The Road to Hong Kong, The Mummy's Shroud and Antony and Cleopatra. He began work as The Master on Doctor Who in late 1970, his first broadcast appearance being in the January 1971 adventure Terror of the Autons. He subsequently reprised the role of the Master in the Third Doctor serials The Mind of Evil, The Claws of Axos, Colony in Space, The Dæmons, The Sea Devils, The Time Monster and Frontier in Space. The Master's story arc was to have ended in The Final Game, which was planned as the final story to feature Pertwee's Third Doctor, but the story was scrapped following Delgado's sudden death and replaced with Planet of the Spiders.

## Personal life

Delgado's first marriage was to Olga Anthonisz. The marriage ended in divorce. He married Kismet Shahani in 1957 and they were together until his death in 1973. Kismet died in 2017.

## Death

   "To say that Roger Delgado was merely a friend of mine would be an insult. Roger was one of my greatest friends ever - a modest, lovable man with a ready wit and a fine sense of humour. As Actors, we discovered we shared an uncanny telephatic communication with each other, as he played 'Moriarty' to my 'Holmes'. It was a phone call from Kismet, Roger's wife, that gave me the news of his tragic death. I was stunned with disbelief, then, and even now, have to force myself to accept the fact that Roger is no longer with us. As my adversary "The Master" he was evil personnified. As a friend, he was the opposite, warm, feeling and understanding. I shall forever miss him."
Delgado died on location on 18 June 1973 in Nevşehir, Turkey, whilst shooting La Cloche tibétaine (Tibetan Bell), a Franco/German television mini-series about the Yellow Expedition. During this expedition, Citroën tracked vehicles traversed Asia in 1931–32 from Peking and Beirut. Delgado appeared in one episode of this production. He was killed, along with two Turkish film technicians, when the car in which he was travelling went off the road into a ravine. He was 55 years old.
For years, there was mystery surrounding the fate of Delgado's remains. It was revealed in 2017 that his body had been returned to the United Kingdom and cremated at Mortlake before the ashes were scattered on 27 June 1973, in area RB3 (Plot 43) of the Garden of Remembrance at Mortlake Cemetery in Southwest London.
The serial he was filming in Turkey continued production and was completed after his death. The series was broadcast on French and German television in 1974–1975; Delgado can be seen in episode 4 as the minor character Paco.
Jon Pertwee often remarked that Delgado's death was one of the reasons he decided to leave Doctor Who the following year.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | Murder at Scotland Yard | George Grayson | |
| 1953 | The Broken Horseshoe | Felix Galegos | |
| 1953 | The Captain's Paradise | Kalikan Policeman | |
| 1953 | Blood Orange | Marlowe | |
| 1953 | Scotland Yard: The Missing Man | Paris Police Inspector | |
| 1954 | The Belles of St. Trinian's | Sultan's Aide | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Third Party Risk | Detective Gonzales | |
| 1955 | Storm Over the Nile | Native Spy | |
| 1956 | The Battle of the River Plate | Captain Varela, Uruguayan Navy | |
| 1956 | Scotland Yard: Destination Death | Lisbon Police Officer | |
| 1957 | Manuela | Stranger | |
| 1957 | Man in the Shadow | Alberto | Uncredited |
| 1957 | Scotland Yard: The Case of The Smiling Widow | Commissario | |
| 1958 | Sea Fury | Salgado | |
| 1958 | Mark of the Phoenix | Devron | |
| 1959 | First Man into Space | Consul Ramon de Guerrera | |
| 1959 | The Stranglers of Bombay | Bundar | Uncredited |
| 1959 | Third Man on the Mountain | Italian Climber | Uncredited |
| 1960 | Sands of the Desert | Abu Nial | |
| 1961 | The Singer Not the Song | Pedro de Cortinez | |
| 1961 | The Terror of the Tongs | Tang Hao | |
| 1962 | Village of Daughters | Francisco Predati | |
| 1962 | The Road to Hong Kong | Jhinnah | |
| 1962 | Guns of Darkness | Hernandez (voice) | Dubbed Derek Godfrey |
| 1962 | In Search of the Castaways | Patagonian Prisoner | |
| 1963 | The Mind Benders | Dr. Jean Bonvoulois | Uncredited |
| 1963 | The Running Man | Spanish Doctor | |
| 1964 | Hot Enough for June | Josef | |
| 1965 | Masquerade | Ahmed Ben Faïd | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Khartoum | Sheikh Abdul Rahim | Uncredited |
| 1966 | The Sandwich Man | Abdul | |
| 1967 | The Mummy's Shroud | Hasmid | |
| 1968 | Star! | French Ambassador | Uncredited |
| 1969 | The Assassination Bureau | Bureau Member | Uncredited |
| 1969 | You Can't Win 'Em All | Capt. Enver (voice) | Dubbed Salih Güney |
| 1970 | Underground | Xavier | |
| 1972 | Horror Express | Inspector Mirov (voice) | Dubbed Julio Peña |
| 1972 | Antony and Cleopatra | Soothsayer | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1948 | Distinguished Gathering | Eliot Richard Vines | television film |
| 1954 | The Three Musketeers | Athos | 6 episodes |
| 1955 | St. Ives | Gautier | 2 episodes |
| 1955 | Quatermass II | Hugh Conrad | Episode 4: "The Coming" |
| 1956 | The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel | Andre | Episode 17: "The Farmer's Boy" |
| 1957 | Assignment Foreign Legion | Lt. Lachaise | Episode 23: "The Coward" |
| 1957 | The Buccaneers | Capt. Mendoza/Don Ferdinand Esteban | 3 episodes |
| 1957 | Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School | Monsieur Charpentier | Episode: "Bunter the Ventriloquist" |
| 1957 | O.S.S. | Luigi | Episode: "Operation Big House" |
| 1957 | The Silver Sword | The Nazi | Episode 6: "Escape from Bavaria" |
| 1957 | Sword of Freedom | Virelli | Episode: "Angelica's Past" |
| 1957 | White Hunter | Gomez | Episode: "Killer Leopard" |
| 1958 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | Ambassador | Episode: "The Minstrel" |
| 1958 | Queen's Champion | Don Jose | 8 episodes |
| 1959-65 | The Third Man | Luis Mendoza / Henri Banear | 4 episodes |
| 1959 | William Tell | Luigi | Episode: "The Black Brothers" |
| 1959 | Hancock's Half Hour | Night Club Manager | Episode: "Spanish Interlude" (uncredited) |
| 1959-60 | The Four Just Men | Inspector Rossi | 2 episodes |
| 1960 | The Splendid Spur | Sir Basil Grenville | Episode: "Joan of the Tor" |
| 1960 | Biggles | Dr. Ahmed Zakar | 3 episodes: "Biggles on the Nile" |
| 1960 | The Odd Man | Bernard Berridge | 3 episodes |
| 1960-61 | Knight Errant Limited | Branco/Oscar Lederer | 2 episodes |
| 1961 | One Step Beyond | Capt. Santoro | Episode: "The Face" |
| 1961 | Plateau of Fear | General Perera | 1 episode |
| 1961 | Triton | The Man with the Patch | 2 episodes |
| 1961 | Danger Man | Von Golling | Episode: "Under the Lake" |
| 1961-64 | Ghost Squad | Holgar/Major Sayid/Ben Ali/De Souza | 4 episodes |
| 1961-62 | Sir Francis Drake | Count Bernardino de Mendoza / The Governor | 7 episodes |
| 1962-66 | The Saint | Hotel Manager/Captain Rodriguez | 2 episodes |
| 1962 | Saki | Laposhka | Episode 5 |
| 1962 | Richard the Lionheart | Laki | Episode: "The Norman King" |
| 1962 | Z-Cars | Gregori Katsybalis | Episode: "Business Trip" |
| 1962-63 | Maigret | Pepito/Fouché | 2 episodes |
| 1963 | The Human Jungle | Wirral | Episode: "The Two Edged Sword" |
| 1963 | Espionage | Gebal | Episode: "A Camel to Ride" |
| 1964 | Crane | Barman | Episode: "Murder Is Waiting" |
| 1964 | The Protectors | Slankin | Episode: "Freedom!" |
| 1964 | Sergeant Cork | Inspector Puichard | Episode: "The Case of the Great Pearl Robbery" |
| 1965 | Sherlock Holmes | Moser | Episode: "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" |
| 1966 | Orlando | King Halara | 2 episodes |
| 1966 | Court Martial | Salvatore Fratuzzi | Episode: "The Liberators" |
| 1966 | The Saint | Captain Rodriguez | Episode: "Locate and Destroy" |
| 1968 | Man in a Suitcase | Ambassador | Episode: "Burder of Proof" |
| 1968 | Harry Worth | Ambassador | Episode: "James Bond Where Are You?" |
| 1969 | The Avengers | Kreer | Episode: "Stay Tuned" |
| 1969 | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) | Tapiro | Episode: "The Ghost who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo" |
| 1971 | The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | Silva | Episode: "Madame Sara" |
| 1971–73 | Doctor Who | The Master | 37 episodes, in 8 serials Terror of the Autons The Mind of Evil The Claws of Axos Colony in Space The Dæmons The Sea Devils The Time Monster Frontier in Space |
| 1972 | The Persuaders! | Estoban | Episode: "To The Death, Baby" |
| 1973 | Play of the Month | Officer of the Holy Brotherhood | Episode: "The Adventures of Don Quixote" |
| 1974 | The Zoo Gang | Pedro Ortega | Episode: "The Lion Hunt" |
| 1974 | La Cloche tibétaine (Tibetan Bell) (fr) | Paco | Episode 4. (Final appearance. Died during filming.) |