English actor William Russell has died at the age of 99.
Russell is best known as one of the original lead cast on BBC’s Doctor Who.
Russell was born William Russell Enoch on 19 November 1924, in Sunderland, County Durham, England.
His big break in television came in 1956 when he starred in the title role in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot on ITV.
In 1963 Russell was cast in Doctor Who as the Doctor’s first male companion, science teacher Ian Chesterton, appearing in most episodes of the first two seasons of the programme.
Russell was one of the four original cast members of Doctor Who, starring opposite William Hartnell as the Doctor, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright, Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman and later Maureen O’Brien as Vicki.
His first involvement in the series took the form of the untransmitted pilot episode, which was eventually reshot and broadcast as An Unearthly Child. He eventually departed, alongside Hill, in the penultimate story of the second season, The Chase.
Russell has continued his association with Doctor Who, having lent his voice as a narrator to several of the audiobook releases of the lost 1960s episodes. He appeared in The Game, one of the continuing Doctor Who audio stories produced by Big Finish. He has also recorded readings for some of the CD audio adaptations of Doctor Who story novelisations originally published by Target Books.
In 1999 he returned to the role of Ian Chesterton for the video release of the Doctor Who serial The Crusade, from which two episodes are currently missing. Russell provided linking narration to cover the gaps, in character as an aged Ian reminiscing about the events of the story.
Since 2002 he has also provided audio commentaries for various Doctor Who DVD releases, read audio book versions of three early Doctor Who novelisations featuring Ian and provided linking narration for CD releases of the fan-recorded soundtracks of serials with missing episodes in which he appeared.
From 2009, Russell has reprised the role of Ian for Big Finish Productions‘ Companion Chronicles and The Lost Stories.
In 2013 he voiced the First Doctor for the anniversary story The Light at the End. 88 years old at the time of recording, he became the oldest actor to play the Doctor in any medium. He has since reprised the role in subsequent First Doctor releases for The Early Adventures range.
Also in 2013, the BBC produced An Adventure in Space and Time, a docudrama depicting the creation and early days of Doctor Who, as part of the programme’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Russell appeared as a character in the drama, portrayed by actor Jamie Glover. Russell himself had a cameo role, playing a BBC Commissionaire named Harry.
Away from the world of Doctor Who, Russell appeared in many British from 1950 onwards, appearing in well-known productions such as They Who Dare (1954), One Good Turn (1955), The Man Who Never Was (1956) and The Great Escape (1963). Later in his career he had minor roles in Terror (1978), Superman (1978) and Death Watch (1979) with Harvey Keitel and Harry Dean Stanton.
Russell also appeared in many plays and TV series including Disraeli (1978), Testament of Youth (1979) and the part of Ted Sullivan, the short-lived second husband of Rita Sullivan in Coronation Street in 1992.
Other roles include a small part in an episode of The Black Adder (1983), an appearance as the Duke of Gloucester in an episode of Robin of Sherwood (1986) and the role of Lanscombe in an episode of the 2005 series of Agatha Christie’s Poirot (“After the Funeral”).
Russell appeared at many conventions and shows over the years, meeting many Doctor Who fans around the globe.
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Indie Mac User 