William Hartnell William Henry " Bill " Hartnell ( 8 January 1908 - 23 April 1975 ) played the first incarnation of the Doctor . For many , he remains the definitive portrayal of the character . Elements of his performance are evident in those of all his successors on the television series and beyond . Biography . Early life . Hartnell was born in , London , England on 8 January 1908 , the only child of an unmarried mother , Lucy Hartnell , the daughter of a Devon farmer . He was fostered out by his mother while she worked , most likely as a nurse in Belgium during the First World War . He was brought up by the wife of a bootmaker in Camden for several years ( Carney ) . Hartnell never discovered the identity of his father , whose particulars were left blank on the existing birth certificate . Despite efforts made by him in later years , his absent parent was never traced . Hartnell concealed his illegitimate background , making up various stories about his father . He spent holidays on his grandparents ' farm in Devon , where he learned to ride . Often known as Billy , he left school at 14 with no prospects . He was mentored by a well - known artist and art collector , Hugh Blaker , who had seen him boxing in Boys ' Clubs , where he went to sketch the young fighters . He became Bill ' s unofficial guardian ( his mother becoming Hugh Blaker ' s housekeeper ) and he arranged for him to train as a jockey . When Bill grew too tall , he paid for him to attend Italia Conti drama school . He then sent him to the Imperial Service College , for some polish and discipline . After running away from the strict regime , Hugh managed to secure a place for him in Frank Benson ' s Theatre company in 1924 , where he worked his way up from prompter and ASM to small acting roles working under . One of the first of his more than sixty film appearances was in " Say It With Music " in 1932 . He was invalided out of the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army during the Second World War after suffering a nervous breakdown . He was helped back into the film industry with a few small roles , but according to one member of the company , Noel Coward gave him a dressing down on the set of " In Which We Serve " for being very late — keeping the cast and crew waiting . He was summarily dismissed from the role of ' a Royal Marine ' . During this time Bill was still suffering from nerves and with a terrible skin rash as a reaction to the khaki dye from the uniforms and being so run - down he also caught scarlet fever , so this uncharacteristic lateness could have been caused by his general ill - health . Until 1944 , Hartnell usually played comic characters , in both theatre and film . Then he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in . From then on , his career was defined by playing mainly policemen , soldiers , and thugs — although he was noted for his ability to bring complexity to such roles ; for example , in his widely praised performance as Dallow in . In 1958 , he topped the bill in the first film , , playing Sergeant Grimshaw , and in 1963 he appeared as a town councillor in the ' film with . Hartnell also appeared as Will Buckley in the film in 1959 ( with Peter Sellers ) . Hartnell ' s first regular role on television was in from 1957 – 1961 . In 1963 , he appeared in a supporting role in the film version of , giving a sensitive performance as an ageing talent scout known as ' Dad ' . " Doctor Who " . His performance as a tough yet sympathetic character in " This Sporting Life " was noted by Verity Lambert , a young producer who was setting up her first television series for the BBC , namely " Doctor Who " . She offered him the title role . Hartnell was uncertain if he wanted to take on the part . Lambert and director Waris Hussein convinced him to play the character for which he gained his highest profile and for which he is now most widely remembered . Hartnell relished particularly the attention and affection from children that playing the Doctor brought him . He became very fond of the role . By 1966 , when his final season aired , the role also earned Hartnell a regular salary of £315 per episode . ( In comparison , his co - stars Anneke Wills and Michael Craze earned £68 and £52 respectively per episode . ) It should be remembered that the series was shot all the year round so it was a very tiring regime , shooting approximately 48 weeks of the year , with Bill being in virtually every episode . Because of the technology of the time , the episodes were shot almost as live with virtually no edits in the programme , so Hartnell was working week in and week out , rehearsing and learning lines before the record day . According to some colleagues on " Doctor Who " , he could be difficult to work with . Others , notably actors Peter Purves and William Russell and producer Verity Lambert , spoke glowingly of him after more than forty years . His bad health ( ) and poor relations with the new production team following the departure of Lambert mid - way during the first half of Season 3 ultimately led him to leave " Doctor Who " in 1966 when his contract expired . Some commentators contend reports of Hartnell ' s illness were exaggerated by succeeding producers John Wiles and Innes Lloyd to justify their effort ( ultimately successful ) to remove him from the series because of the expense of his salary . Wiles had considered this as early as the pre - production plans for " The Celestial Toymaker " . Others suggest it was a mutual decision of Hartnell and the production team that he should leave the programme . Lloyd has stated Hartnell even approved of the choice of actor saying ( according to Lloyd ) , " There ' s only one man in England who can take over , and that ' s Patrick Troughton . " However Hartnell claimed in later life that he did not want to leave the series , writing , in an oft - quoted letter , " I didn ' t willingly give up the part " . Suggestions that Hartnell ' s health was failing him are contradicted by his return to demanding theatre work almost immediately upon leaving " Doctor Who " . He also made television guest appearances during the late 1960s , which included . Hartnell was fifty - five when he made his first appearance as the Doctor . From November 1963 to May 2013 , an outstanding 49 years and 5 months , he was the oldest actor to be cast as the Doctor on television , until John Hurt appeared in the role aged 73 years old ; 15 years older than Hartnell in 1966 , and 9 years older than Hartnell when he appeared in The Three Doctors in 1972 . He suffered injuries while in the role , most notably during filming for " The Dalek Invasion of Earth " when the ramp of the Dalek spaceship , which he was being carried down by actor Richard McNeff , collapsed and he was thrown to the floor and temporarily paralysed after landing awkwardly on a camera steering circle . He returned to work after just a week ' s bed - rest . During recording of " The Myth Makers " , Hartnell not only suffered another injury , a shoulder bruised when he was struck from behind by a camera , but also a bereavement — his Aunt Bessie passed away . Hartnell found himself unable to take time off to attend her funeral due to the tight production schedules . Life after the Doctor . Hartnell reprised the role in the tenth anniversary story " The Three Doctors " ( made in 1972 , broadcast 1972 - 1973 ) with the help of cue cards , but appeared only in pre - filmed inserts seen on video screens . Hartnell ' s health had deteriorated in the early 1970s , and in December 1974 he was admitted to hospital permanently . In early 1975 he suffered a series of stroke s brought on by and died in his sleep of heart failure on 23 April 1975 at the age of sixty - seven . His death was reported on the BBC News , and a clip of the Doctor and his companions Steven and Dodo in the TARDIS control room from the end of " The O . K . Corral " , the final episode of " The Gunfighters " , was shown . Legacy . A clip of his scene from the end of the serial " The Dalek Invasion of Earth " ( 1964 ) was used as a pre - credits sequence for the twentieth anniversary story " The Five Doctors " ( 1983 ) , although another actor , Richard Hurndall , played the role of the First Doctor for the remainder of the story . Hartnell and Hurndall were both included in the story ' s on - screen credits for the role of the Doctor . The 50th anniversary docudrama " An Adventure in Space and Time " ( 2013 ) retells the story of Hartnell ' s time as the Doctor from the inception of the series to the filming of " The Tenth Planet " with David Bradley as William Hartnell . The drama depicts the challenges Hartnell faced due to his failing health and the constantly - shifting cast and crew of the series . Hartnell himself appears via archival footage , using the same clip as was used in " The Five Doctors " . Biographical information about William Hartnell is hard to substantiate because of conflicting information from different sources . Hartnell himself gave accounts of his birth and upbringing which differ from verifiable facts . The only published biography is by his granddaughter , Jessica Carney . Although criticised by some as a , Carney ' s " Who ' s There ? " does refer to these difficulties and makes it clear that a great deal of research has been done , drawing from primary sources , as well as Hartnell ' s family ' s own extensive archive . Notwithstanding an often negative view of its subject , the family link with the author makes some critics view this work as biassed . Hartnell exists within the " Doctor Who " universe . AUDIO : " Pier Pressure " contains the character Billy , a young actor in 1936 Brighton who had appeared in the films " I ' m an Explosive " and " While Parents Sleep " . Both titles are real - world films in which young Hartnell appeared , credited as " Billy Hartnell . " In COMIC : " Whodunnit ? " , a grave marked " W . Hartnell " is seen in a flashback to Alice Obiefune visiting her father ' s grave as a child . Hartnellisms . Hartnell ' s occasional mistakes in his lines while in " Doctor Who " have been named " Hartnellisms " ( or " Billy - fluffs " ) by " Doctor Who " fans . It should be noted that the methods of television production at the time — effectively recording long takes " as live " with retakes only being undertaken in extreme circumstances — led to the inclusion of far more of these small errors than would have been apparent in any more modern production . It is also worth noting that sudden , short - term memory loss or a momentary loss of concentration are recognised symptoms of arteriosclerosis , which Hartnell was suffering from , undiagnosed . In light of this , overt mocking of this small tendency has increasingly been considered to be in poor taste , especially when it draws attention away from Hartnell ' s other achievements with a consequent effect on his reputation . Additionally , some so - called Hartnellisms can be viewed in the context of the character and were scripted ( other characters draw attention to this tendency in dialogue ) . For example , the Doctor frequently misspoke companion Ian Chesterton ' s name ( calling him " Chesterfield " in one episode , " Chatterton " in another ) . In the fifth episode of " The Keys of Marinus " , " Sentence of Death " , Hartnell appears to repeat a line of dialogue when he mixes up the words ' improve ' and ' prove ' , but according to the DVD text commentary for the episode this error was actually scripted . Examples . It has been said that as time went on and Hartnell ' s health ostensibly failed , the number of Hartnellisms increased , sometimes to the detriment of the plot . However , listening to surviving audio copies of his later serials – such as " The Savages " and " The Smugglers " – shows this assertion to be demonstrably false . Additionally , when Hartnell played the Abbot of Amboise in " The Massacre " ( identical to the Doctor physically , the Abbot has more screen time than the Doctor himself ) , he managed to say all his lines without a hitch . In Hartnell ' s final full story , " The Tenth Planet " , the Doctor is given far fewer lines than normal . It has been speculated that this was done deliberately to prevent such problems , but there is no evidence from either production office records or surviving members of the production team to suggest that this was the case . Hartnell always claimed he was born in Seaton , Devon , England , but was actually born in St . Pancras , London , England . At one time he shared the same agent as Nicholas Courtney , who later played Brigadier Lethbridge - Stewart . Courtney appeared alongside Hartnell as Bret Vyon in " The Daleks ' Master Plan " . ( " Masterplan " director Douglas Camfield also directed the Brigadier ' s premiere story , " The Web of Fear " . ) Hartnell had a habit of questioning plot inconsistencies and character anomalies . His attention to detail allowed him provide continuity , even to the extent where he knew what button on the TARDIS console did what . Indeed , in the show ' s early days , Hartnell had predicted that it would run for years . ( REF : " About Time 1 " )