44 Facts About Jon Pertwee

John Devon Roland Pertwee, known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor.

Jon Pertwee's father remarried, and his mother found a new partner, Louis Auguste De La Garde, with whom Pertwee did not build a relationship; she died in 1951, leaving Pertwee's elder brother Michael as her executor.

Jon Pertwee was educated at Frensham Heights School, an independent school in Rowledge, near Farnham in Surrey, at Sherborne School in Dorset, and at some other schools from which he was expelled.

Jon Pertwee was admitted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but later expelled, allegedly because he wrote rude remarks on the lavatory walls and the principal considered him talentless.

Jon Pertwee then worked in repertory theatre before being contracted with the BBC at 18 as an actor.

In 1942, as a Sub Lieutenant, Jon Pertwee was posted to HMS Valkyrie.

Jon Pertwee began to work as a comedy actor on radio, becoming known for being able to do a variety of comedic voices and accents.

Jon Pertwee did not appear in the 1959 film version of The Navy Lark.

Jon Pertwee was known as a Danny Kaye look-alike, and his impersonation of Kaye can be seen in the crime film Murder at the Windmill.

Jon Pertwee played Charlie Sterling in the comedy film Will Any Gentleman.

Jon Pertwee appeared as Sidney Tait in the comedy film Ladies Who Do.

In 1966, Jon Pertwee starred alongside Donald Sinden in the original West End production of the long-running comedy There's a Girl in My Soup.

Jon Pertwee had asked his agent to apply for the role for him and was surprised to find he was already on the shortlist.

Jon Pertwee was the second choice for the role; Ron Moody was the first but was unavailable.

Jon Pertwee played the character as an active crusader with a penchant for fancy clothes, while exiled to Earth by the Time Lords for much of his tenure and serving as the scientific adviser to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and UNIT.

Jon Pertwee played the Doctor for five seasons from early 1970 to mid-1974, a longer stint than either of his predecessors in the role, although he ultimately appeared in fewer episodes than William Hartnell as the BBC had reduced the production schedule.

Jon Pertwee credited his performance as the Doctor with helping him work out exactly who he really was when he was not resorting to comedic disguises or voices.

On 14 April 1971, Jon Pertwee was the subject of Thames Television's This Is Your Life.

Jon Pertwee played the lead in the last segment of the film as Paul Henderson, an arrogant horror film star who meets his doom thanks to a genuine vampire cloak.

In 1973, Jon Pertwee endorsed the Co-op's Baking Your Cake and Eating It, a recipe book written by Sarah Charles.

In early 1974, Jon Pertwee announced he would step down as the Doctor to resume his stage career in The Bedwinner, citing potential typecasting in the role as the reason for leaving, though he later said that the catalyst for his departure was the death of his good friend and co-star Roger Delgado and the departures of co-star Katy Manning, producer Barry Letts and script editor Terrance Dicks.

Jon Pertwee was dealing with chronic back pain at the time, and was becoming less interested in the character of the Doctor.

Jon Pertwee had first been approached to play the part of Worzel Gummidge in a film to be written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.

When this project fell through, Jon Pertwee encouraged the writers to create a television pilot instead, and via his agent pitched the idea to the BBC, which turned it down, and then Thames Television, which likewise rejected the project.

Jon Pertwee later admitted that he "began to lose faith in the project", until Southern Television's Lewis Rudd heard about it and enthusiastically agreed that the company would make the series.

Keen to continue beyond this, Jon Pertwee campaigned for the series and it was picked up by a New Zealand network, TVNZ, in 1987.

In 1995, Jon Pertwee played the role one last time in a one-off special for ITV, which celebrated 40 years of the channel.

Jon Pertwee played the title character in Worzel Gummidge, the Musical, book and lyrics by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, music by Denis King, which opened at London's Cambridge Theatre in December 1981, co-starring Una Stubbs and Geoffrey Bayldon.

Jon Pertwee recorded an album, Worzel Gummidge Sings, as well as a Christmas single.

Jon Pertwee played the role of the Colonel in the Disney children's film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing.

Also in 1976, Jon Pertwee starred with Australian singer Julie Anthony in a West End production of the musical Irene, playing the camp fashion-designer Madame Lucy.

Jon Pertwee considered this to be one of "the best things I've ever done".

Jon Pertwee returned to the role of the Doctor in 1983 for the 20th-anniversary television special "The Five Doctors" and in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time for Children in Need.

Jon Pertwee presented the Doctor Who video releases The Troughton Years, showcasing selected surviving episodes of otherwise lost stories, and The Pertwee Years, the latter a look back at his time on the show, with three selected episodes.

In 1993, Jon Pertwee was featured in the unofficial 30th anniversary VHS release entitled 30 Years of Time Travel and Beyond.

Jon Pertwee would continue to act in films and television as well as make appearances worldwide in support of Doctor Who.

Ultimately, Jon Pertwee was successful in seeing the Third Doctor return to the airwaves with two audio productions for BBC Radio, The Paradise of Death and The Ghosts of N-Space.

At the time of his death, Jon Pertwee was regularly being seen in the closing moments of a UK TV advert for mobile phone operator Vodafone, dressed in the style of his version of the Doctor.

Jon Pertwee continued on the Doctor Who convention circuit, and with his voice and television acting, until his death.

Jon Pertwee died in his sleep from a heart attack in Connecticut on 20 May 1996, at the age of 76.

Jon Pertwee was survived by Ingeborg and their two children.

Jon Pertwee's death came six days after the American broadcast of the Doctor Who television film, which used in its opening credits a logo based on that from his era of the television series.

Jon Pertwee's voice was culled from the fan-produced Doctor Who film Devious.

Archival footage of Jon Pertwee has been used several times in the revived Doctor Who.