Cast
William Hartnell
Acting
Cast
William Hartnell
Known for
Acting
Born
1908-01-08
From
Saint Pancras, London, England, UK
Died
1975-04-23
Also known as Billy Hartnell , Bill Hartnell, Π£ΠΈΠ»ΡΡΠΌ Π₯Π°ΡΡΠ½Π΅Π»Π»
Biography
William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 β 23 April 1975), also known as Billy Hartnell or Bill Hartnell, was an English actor. Hartnell played the first incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, from 1963 to 1966. He was also known for his roles as Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and Company Sergeant Major Percy Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 until 1958, and again in 1960. Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925 working under Frank Benson as a general stagehand. He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays, including The Merchant of Venice (1926), Julius Caesar (1926), As You Like It (1926), Hamlet (1926), The Tempest (1926) and Macbeth (1926). He also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer (1926), School for Scandal (1926) and Good Morning, Bill (1927), before performing in Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner (1928). This play was written by Robert Neilson Stephens and E. Lyall Swete. It featured the actress Heather McIntyre, whom he married during the following year. His first of more than sixty film appearances was in Say It With Music (1932). Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in The Way Ahead (1944). From then on his career was defined by playing mainly policemen, soldiers, and thugs. Hartnell's performance in This Sporting Life was noted by Verity Lambert, the producer who was setting up a new science-fiction television series for the BBC entitled Doctor Who; and, mainly on the strength of that performance, Lambert offered him the title role.
β
8.2
MOVIE2013
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
8.0
MOVIE2017
Doctor Who: Twice Upon a Time
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
10.0
MOVIE1933
The Lure
as Billy
β
6.3
MOVIE1959
The Mouse That Roared
as Will Buckley
β
7.7
MOVIE1956
Doublecross
as Herbert Whiteway
β
7.2
MOVIE2024
Doctor Who at the Proms
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
6.5
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Chase
as The Doctor
β
6.4
MOVIE1958
Carry On Sergeant
as Sergeant Grimshawe
β
7.0
MOVIE1963
This Sporting Life
as 'Dad' Johnson
β
7.7
MOVIE2013
An Adventure in Space and Time
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
5.9
MOVIE1958
Date with Disaster
as Tracey
β
8.0
MOVIE2015
Doctor Who: The Husbands of River Song
as The Doctor (1) (picture) (uncredited)
β
6.8
MOVIE1942
They Flew Alone
as Scotty
β
7.9
MOVIE1984
Doctor Who: Resurrection of the Daleks
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage) (uncredited)
β
6.0
MOVIE1949
The Lost People
as Barnes
β
7.8
MOVIE1935
The Guv'nor
as Car Salesman
β
6.6
MOVIE1956
Private's Progress
as Sgt. Sutton
β
6.8
MOVIE1948
Brighton Rock
as Dallow
β
7.3
MOVIE1947
Odd Man Out
as Fencie - the barman
MOVIE2019
Mission to the Unknown
as Dr. Who
β
6.5
MOVIE1959
Shake Hands with the Devil
as Sergeant Jenkins
β
6.3
MOVIE1940
They Came by Night
as Undetermined Role
MOVIE2008
The Ties That Bind Us
as The First Doctor (archive footage)
β
5.0
MOVIE2023
Talking Doctor Who
as Self / The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
7.4
MOVIE2008
Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
7.0
MOVIE1952
The Pickwick Papers
as Irate Cabman
β
6.6
MOVIE1944
The Way Ahead
as Sgt. Ned Fletcher
β
5.6
MOVIE1936
The Crimson Circle
β
5.8
MOVIE1977
That's Carry On!
as Sergeant Grimshawe (archive footage)
β
7.7
MOVIE1998
What's a Carry On?
as Sergeant Grimshawe (archive footage) (uncredited)
β
6.5
MOVIE1952
The Holly and the Ivy
as Company Sergeant Major
β
8.0
MOVIE2006
Creation of the Daleks
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
6.7
MOVIE1957
Hell Drivers
as Cartley, Hawlett Manager
β
5.0
MOVIE2025
Doctor Who: Wish World & The Reality War
as Dr. Who (archive footage) (uncredited)
β
6.5
MOVIE1949
Now Barabbas
as Warder Jackson
β
6.2
MOVIE1950
Double Confession
as Charlie Durham
β
6.5
MOVIE1952
The Magic Box
as Recruiting Sergeant
β
6.0
MOVIE2021
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
as The Doctor (voice)
β
7.4
MOVIE1963
The World Ten Times Over
as Dad
β
5.4
MOVIE1947
Temptation Harbour
as Jim Brown
β
7.2
MOVIE1943
The Bells Go Down
as Brookes
β
5.8
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Smugglers
as The Doctor
β
5.9
MOVIE1960
And the Same to You
as Walter 'Wally' Burton
β
7.3
MOVIE1957
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst
as Leading Seaman Leslie Frank
β
7.3
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Daleks
as The Doctor
β
6.2
MOVIE1946
Appointment with Crime
as Leo Martin
β
8.0
MOVIE2006
Masters of Sound
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
6.0
MOVIE1952
The Ringer
as Sam Hackett
β
6.5
MOVIE1937
Farewell Again
as Minor Role
β
8.5
MOVIE2006
Doctor Who: Origins
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
7.9
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan
as The Doctor
β
7.3
MOVIE1963
Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child
as The Doctor
β
6.1
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Crusade
as The Doctor
β
6.0
MOVIE1963
Tomorrow at Ten
as Freddie Maddox
β
6.7
MOVIE1942
The Goose Steps Out
as German Officer at Station
β
6.3
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Reign of Terror
as The Doctor
β
7.8
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Romans
as The Doctor
β
7.4
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The War Machines
as The Doctor
β
7.0
MOVIE1955
Footsteps in the Fog
as Herbert Moresby
β
6.7
MOVIE1945
Murder in Reverse?
as Tom Masterick
β
6.0
MOVIE1938
They Drive by Night
as Bus Conductor
β
7.0
MOVIE1933
Follow the Lady
as Mike Martindale
β
5.7
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
as The Doctor
β
7.2
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Savages
as The Doctor
β
7.5
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Aztecs
as The Doctor
β
8.0
MOVIE2024
Doctor Who: The Celestial Toymaker
as The Doctor (voice)
β
6.7
MOVIE1960
Piccadilly Third Stop
as Colonel
β
6.4
MOVIE1955
Josephine and Men
as Detective Sgt. Parsons
β
6.4
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Rescue
as The Doctor
β
5.3
MOVIE1959
Strictly Confidential
as Grimshaw
β
8.1
MOVIE1982
Doctor Who: Earthshock
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
5.9
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Keys of Marinus
as The Doctor
β
6.9
MOVIE1951
The Dark Man
as Superintendent of Police
β
5.7
MOVIE1948
Escape
as Inspector Harris
β
7.0
MOVIE1941
Freedom Radio
as Radio Location Aerial Operator (uncredited)
β
7.2
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: Marco Polo
as The Doctor
β
7.0
MOVIE1943
Headline
as Dell
β
6.3
MOVIE1953
Will Any Gentleman...?
as Detective Inspector Martin
β
7.8
MOVIE1983
Doctor Who: The Five Doctors
as The First Doctor (archive footage)
β
7.2
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
as The Doctor / Abbot of Amboise
β
7.4
MOVIE1973
Doctor Who: The Three Doctors
as The Doctor
β
6.2
MOVIE1943
The Dark Tower
as Jim Towers (as Bill Hartnell)
β
6.0
MOVIE1936
Midnight at Madame Tussaud's
as Stubbs
β
7.3
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
as The Doctor
β
7.2
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Myth Makers
as The Doctor
β
8.0
MOVIE1936
Parisian Life
MOVIE2025
Doctor Who: The Savages
as The Doctor (voice)
β
5.8
MOVIE1959
The Night We Dropped a Clanger
as Sgt. Bright
MOVIE2009
Mounting the Rescue
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
8.1
MOVIE1976
Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius
as The Doctor (1) (picture) (uncredited)
β
7.0
MOVIE1983
Doctor Who: Mawdryn Undead
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
MOVIE2012
Don't Lose Your Head: The Making of 'The Reign of Terror'
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
6.3
MOVIE1946
A Defeated People
as Commentator (voice)
MOVIE1939
Murder Will Out
as Dick
β
7.4
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Time Meddler
as The Doctor
β
6.8
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Ark
as The Doctor
β
7.9
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Tenth Planet
as The Doctor (1)
β
8.1
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Power of the Daleks
as The Doctor in the mirror (uncredited)
β
7.5
MOVIE2002
Remembering 'The Aztecs'
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
6.6
MOVIE1963
Heavens Above!
as Major Fowler
β
5.6
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Web Planet
as The Doctor
β
6.3
MOVIE1945
The Agitator
as Peter Pettinger (as Billy Hartnell)
β
9.0
MOVIE2003
Future Memories: Making 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth'
as The Doctor (1) (archive footage)
β
5.8
MOVIE1943
The Peterville Diamond
as Joseph (as Bill Hartnell)
β
6.5
MOVIE1942
Sabotage at Sea
as Jacob Digby
β
6.5
MOVIE1944
Strawberry Roan
as Chris Lowe
β
6.3
MOVIE1966
Doctor Who: The Gunfighters
as The Doctor
β
5.5
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: Galaxy 4
as The Doctor
β
5.5
MOVIE1956
Tons of Trouble
as Bert
β
7.1
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: Planet of Giants
as The Doctor
β
5.0
MOVIE1959
The Desperate Man
as Smith
β
6.5
MOVIE1965
Doctor Who: The Space Museum
as The Doctor
β
7.0
MOVIE1934
The Perfect Flaw
as Vickers
β
5.3
MOVIE1963
To Have and to Hold
as Insp. Roberts
β
6.1
MOVIE2023
Doctor Who: The Daleks in Colour
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
7.0
MOVIE1958
On the Run
as Tom Casey
MOVIE2009
The Sets of Marinus
as The Doctor (archive footage)
β
5.3
MOVIE1957
The Hypnotist
as Inspector Ross
β
5.8
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Edge of Destruction
as The Doctor
β
7.9
MOVIE1972
Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks
as The Doctor (1) (picture) (uncredited)
β
5.1
MOVIE1964
Doctor Who: The Sensorites
as The Doctor
β
6.0
MOVIE1960
Jackpot
as Supt. Frawley
β
6.7
MOVIE1942
Suspected Person
as Detective Saunders
β
8.0
MOVIE2006
Inside the Spaceship: The Story of the TARDIS
as The Doctor (archive footage)
MOVIE2012
Vision On
as The Doctor (archive footage)