I haven't seen too many of them elsewhere. Christopher Eccleston in Gone In 60 Seconds Tom Baker in The Zany Adventures Of Robin Hood Those parts didn't really remind me of the Doctor. Colin Baker in The Stranger series did remind me of a self-exiled Doctor, but I think that was the intent at first, before they "explained" the character.
I've seen Tennant in HP and The Goblet of Fire, but, that was before he was in Doctor Who. I've seen Eccelston in 28 Weeks or 28 Days Later, and he was barely recognizable to me, so no problem there, and in Heroes, he was quite recognizable to me, but, the performance was so different, no problem there either. I've seen Advertisments for Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes, but, not the actual movie/show, though if I had seen the show, I think it definitely would've rang out to me Doctor #4 I've seen Sylvester McCoy in something (Don't remember what) but, it didn't really sing out Doctor #7 to me.
Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker have been in consecutive Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies, Baker as the villain in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Troughton as a wise alchemist in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. Of course, Peter Davison was well-known from his role in All Creatures Great and Small before he was the Doctor, and I saw that show occasionally on PBS back in the day. And I've seen Paul McGann in Alien³.
Oooh, I didn't know that, haven't seen them in 30+ years, before I'd seen any Doctor Who. Well, there's a reason to watch them sometime in the near Future. I believe I have recordings from TCM of both of them, that I haven't watched yet.
Really? Because in this thread, you say you imagine they are on the holodeck. Kind of smells spammy to me, posting basically the same thread in more than one forum.
Troughton's appearance in The Omen would be a standout; almost as if Two were exiled to Earth, became (impersonated?) a priest and ended up impaled on a railing before turning into Three. Then, of course, there's Nine in Shallow Grave along with Obi-Wan, not to mention cameoing as Nicole Kidman's hubby in The Others.
Personally I don't think it's very respectful to actors to insist on seeing them as one character when they're trying to create a different one. Many actors resent being typecast as just one role, because the whole goal of the craft (and, often, a necessary part of making a living at it) is to be capable of transforming oneself into multiple different characters. Especially for a chameleonic character actor like Troughton, the kind of performer who prides himself on disappearing into a character, equating him with only a single role is like calling him a failure at the very thing his career and reputation are built upon.
Personally I love the actors who's played the Doctor in other roles just to see them not playing the Doctor.
I've seen Tom Baker as Rasputin in a movie about Tsar Nicholas and Alexandria on TCM once. Being a Time Lord would explain why he was hard to kill.
Except, of course, that Rasputin wasn't really hard to kill at all; that was just propaganda created by his killers 1) in order to paint Rasputin as a demonic figure and 2) because it was more impressive than saying "Hey, we just murdered a feeble old man."
That was Nicholas and Alexandria. And Patrick Troughton was in several old Hammer Horror films like The Gorgon and Scars of Dracula.
What I'm curious about: I've heard that William Hartnell had a reputation mainly as tough guys and drill-sergeant types, and getting cast as an eccentric, grandfatherly scientist/traveller was rather against type for him. So it might be interesting to get to see some of his representative work pre-Who.
^ I think Hartnell was in the first Carry On movie too. The Doctor was certainly something of a departure for him, as he was playing a dotty and somewhat sinister old man, although Hartnell himself was only in his mid fifties. (Edit: Just checked the Wikipedia entry for Carry On Sergeant. He gets first billing on the poster!
Oh, Christopher, your mentioning Tom Baker as the villain Kurra (sp?) in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad reminded me of something. I read something once, most likely apocryphal, that Baker would not have minded continuing with the production if if he could have played a villain, particularly the Master. Consider how Kurra looked once he dropped the talisman segments into the enchanted fountain and it rejuvinated him. Remove the turban and slick back his hair, and he'd look like a successor to Roger Degado. Again, I'll point out this more likely just fannish rumor run wild, but I see the perfect opportunity where Baker's Master could have been introduced. In this scenario, there would not have been a "Logopolis", at least not the way it unfolded. Instead, the regeneration story would have been the previous one, "The Keeper of Traken". Remember, the "burnt bacon" Master as played by Beevers, wanted to absorb the rest of the Doctor's regenerations for himself using the Source Manipulator. As depicted in the actual story, his efforts failed due to Adric's sabotage. But he gained enough power to take over Nyssa's father, Tremas and continued in that form until the cancellation of the original series. But...I see how it could have played out very differently (at least "in universe" if not snactioned by the real life production). What if the Master were partially successful? I can imagine he starts his "leeching", but only manages the Doctor's current form as played by Tom Baker, but not all his potential regenerations. The Master takes on the guise of a van dyke bearded Baker and the Doctor himself is forced into a regeneration, introducing the next performer to play him (we'll assume it's still Peter Davison). Given the limitations of the BBC effects, I picture something akin to a simple "blurring" with a wash of light as Beever's scarred form grabs Baker, maybe "clawing" at his face. The optical makes the figures grow indistinct as both collapse. Adric and Nyssa approach the Doctor's form and remove a length of scarf that has fallen across his face to reveal his new form. The other body, still in the burnt robes rises with a menacing chuckle that only one actor can mange. He whips back the cowl to reveal Tom Baker with a mustache and beard rather like the reinvigurated Kurra from Golden Voyage... Cue the "sting" for the closing credits and the wait for the next season (series). Again, I highly suspect Baker's comments about playing the Master are just that, suspect, but there was a perfect point in the series where Baker could have switched roles. And remembering him as Kurra, I think he could have made the role his own. Sincerely, Bill
William Hartnell was a well-known British film actor in the 40s and 50s. Famous enough to have his own fan club, for instance. His breakout role was playing Sergeant Fletcher in the war film "The Way Ahead", which is (rightly) an acclaimed performance. It did though serve to typecast him a bit, and he often ended up with gruff NCO type parts. To a certain extent, he was parodying that image when he appeared in Carry On Sergeant, and also the tv sitcom The Army Game - it's probably worth noting that he is effectively the straight man in these productions though. Other notable films he's in include Yangtse Incident, Brighton Rock, Hell Drivers, The Mouse That Roared and This Sporting Life. (It was this latter that made Verity Lambert think he might be a good choice for the Doctor.) Getting him for Doctor Who would have been seen as a big coup in those days. He's one of my favourite actors of all time, even regardless of his role in Doctor Who.
Oh! I remember seeing The Mouse That Roared on TV more than once in my youth, so that must mean I actually saw Hartnell long before I ever saw Doctor Who. I had no idea.
Yea, I'm pretty sure I saw The Mouse That Roared and the Sequel (Or The First one, if that's the Sequel?) back to back a couple times in the 1970s. Didn't see any Hartnell Who until the Mid 80s, earliest.
No, as I recall, The Mouse that Roared was the original book and movie, and The Mouse on the Moon was the sequel. Ahh, here we go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mouse_That_Roared Turns out there were two other sequels and a prequel in the book series, but only the two movies.