1. Patrick Troughton became best known for his roles in television, most notably starring as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role three times between 1972 and 1985.
Patrick Troughton was born on 25 March 1920 in Mill Hill, Middlesex, England, to Alec George Patrick Troughton, a solicitor, and Dorothy Evelyn Offord, who married in 1914 in Edmonton.
Patrick Troughton had an elder brother, Alec Robert, and a younger sister, Mary Edith.
Patrick Troughton attended Mill Hill School and continued to live in Mill Hill for most of his life.
Patrick Troughton studied at the Embassy School of Acting at Swiss Cottage, being tutored by Eileen Thorndike.
Patrick Troughton was later awarded an acting scholarship at the Leighton Rallius Studios at the John Drew Memorial Theatre on Long Island, New York, in the United States.
In 1940, Patrick Troughton enlisted with the Royal Navy, receiving a commission with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in November 1941.
Patrick Troughton was deployed on East Coast Convoy duty from February to August 1941, and then with Coastal Forces' Motor Gun Boats based at Great Yarmouth from November 1942 to 1945, operating in the North Sea and English Channel.
Patrick Troughton used to wear a tea cosy on his head in cold weather in the North Sea.
Patrick Troughton worked with the Amersham Repertory Company, the Bristol Old Vic Company and the Pilgrim Players at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate.
In 1948, Troughton made his cinema debut with small roles in Olivier's Hamlet, the Joseph L Mankiewicz directed Escape, and a minor role as a pirate in Disney's Treasure Island, appearing only during the attack on the heroes' hut.
Patrick Troughton would make several appearances in The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Richard Greene.
Patrick Troughton appeared as the murderer Tyrrell in Olivier's film of Richard III.
Patrick Troughton was Olivier's stand-in on the film and appears in many long shots as Richard.
Patrick Troughton voiced Winston Smith in a 1965 BBC Home Service radio adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Patrick Troughton was offered the part of Johnny Ringo in the Doctor Who story The Gunfighters but turned it down.
Patrick Troughton was the first Doctor to have his face appear in the opening titles of the show.
In one serial, The Enemy of the World, Patrick Troughton played two parts: as the protagonist and the antagonist.
Patrick Troughton was popular with both the production team and his co-stars.
Patrick Troughton gained a reputation on set as a practical joker.
Many of the early episodes in which Patrick Troughton appeared were among those discarded by the BBC.
Patrick Troughton found Doctor Whos schedule gruelling, and decided to leave the series in 1969, after three years in the role.
Patrick Troughton returned to Doctor Who three times after formally leaving the programme.
In 1983, Patrick Troughton overcame some reluctance to reprise his role and agreed to appear in the 20th-anniversary special "The Five Doctors" at the request of series producer John Nathan-Turner.
Patrick Troughton agreed to attend Doctor Who conventions, including the show's 20th anniversary celebrations at Longleat in 1983.
Patrick Troughton enjoyed the return to the programme so much that he readily agreed to appear one more time as the Second Doctor, with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor in The Two Doctors.
Patrick Troughton appears as a character in the production, called An Adventure in Space and Time, portrayed by actor Reece Shearsmith.
Patrick Troughton portrayed Cole Hawlings in a BBC Television dramatisation of the John Masefield children's book The Box of Delights.
Patrick Troughton's health was never completely robust due to heavy drinking and smoking.
Patrick Troughton suffered two major heart attacks, one in 1979 and the other in 1984, both of which prevented him from working for several months afterwards.
Patrick Troughton featured in the 1974 11-part radio adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour.
Patrick Troughton appeared in the first episode of Central Independent Television's Inspector Morse, entitled "The Dead of Jericho", which was originally transmitted on ITV on 6 January 1987.
Patrick Troughton married his first wife, Margaret Dunlop, at the Union Church at Mill Hill on 3 September 1943.
Patrick Troughton started living a double life when, just after the birth of his third child in 1955, he chose to leave Dunlop and their three children to live with girlfriend Ethel Margaret "Bunny" Nuens, with whom he went on to have three children.
Patrick Troughton maintained a deception of having stayed with his original family that was so successful that his own mother died unaware of the separation in 1979,24 years after Patrick Troughton had left Dunlop.
On 27 March 1987, two days after his 67th birthday, Patrick Troughton was a guest at the Magnum Opus Con II science fiction convention in Columbus, Georgia, United States.
Patrick Troughton was certified dead at the Medical Center in Columbus, Georgia.