http://www.doctorwho.tv/whats-new/article/tom-bakers-final-interview-in-doctor-who-magazine “I’ve done a lot of interviews and I dare say that there might be another reason, perhaps a sad one, why you might mention me again in the magazine. But your readers know all my stories by now, or half of them, so it seems that this might be me bowing out from the spotlight…” “Your readers, their kindness, it takes my breath away,” he tells me. “Some of their letters and messages are so extravagant, and my feeling is of gratitude, really. I feel like… I nearly said Prospero,” he laughs, that familiar, fruity, Tom Baker laugh. “That’s going too far… but I have been such stuff that dreams are made on.” “In the long time when Doctor Who was out of production, you kept it alive, didn’t you? You were wonderful. And Doctor Who Magazine has been very good to me, for all these years. I’m so grateful for what you’ve done for me. You’ve given me such happy memories. Well, I’ll be dead quite soon.” Say it isn't so, Tom. I'm hoping this is just hyperbole for DWM #500, but it sure doesn't sound like it. Also helps explain why Big Finish has been recording the Fourth Doctor Adventures so far ahead. Good thoughts and best wishes to him.
Tom Baker has been talking in a morbid way about his age for quite some time. John Cleese does the exact same thing. It feels kind of like a schtick. Unless he is harboring a terminal disease and not telling us you shouldn't take it that seriously.
As unsettling as it is to hear him talk like that, I'm thinking/hoping it's just sarcasm. Provided there isn't something about his health he's been keeping to himself, Tom Baker seems in good health, and I don't see why he couldn't stick around for at least another decade, if not even make it to 100. I'm partially reminded of my own grandfather, who just after turning 70 began talking about death being "just around the corner" yet he lived to be 96.
Shatner also had his morbid "We're all gonna die" song on Has Been from 12 years ago. It's a schtick. Mathematically it's true. When you get old, you're gonna die soon. But soon doesn't mean tomorrow.
18 years ago I was interviewing Tom and he said then "This coiud be my last interview. I could die right now. So could you, but I'd be very annoyed, seeing as I got on a train all this way so I could meet you."
I could say that he will always be the Doctor. But that isn't quite true. The Doctor will, on some level, always be Tom Baker. He had that much impact on the character.
Tom baker was MY doctor. It was the right time and place...I've buoyed the others but they weren't quite "of my time"
It still pleasantly surprises me how vibrant he still sounds. One might almost swear his Big Finish sessions were recorded around 1980. Some people, well, you can instantly tell they've reached their "golden years" from their voices alone. But with Tom, you'd be hard pressed to guess when a particular audio recording was made. Now, I don't know if his BF performances have been recorded in roughly the same order as their releases, but it seemed to me in those earliest few, I could tell he had gotten on in years. But by the third or fourth disc, he had "found his stride" once again and sounded like he did nearly 40 years ago. Maybe I just listening through "violin tuned head phones" (the audio equivalent to "rose colored glasses"), but to me he really does sound like he's still in his prime. Sincerely, Bill
Actually it is interesting to note, that while Tom Baker holds the record for longest term as the Doctor, and is currently the oldest living Doctor, he's also the oldest any of the Doctors have yet reached at 82. Both Hartnell and Troughton died when they were 67, and Pertwee died when he was 76. Baker's also the first Doctor to have cleared both ages that contain the numbers 6 and 7.
What a great video! Yes, his performances have largely been released in recording order and I agree with you - his earliest recordings felt a bit...off. But he's in fine shining form now. As much as I love the Fifth Doctor, you can tell Davison is older. But not Baker. Not at all.
Tom seems determined to go out on a high note, at any rate. This September sees the release of Part 1 of an non-DW audio trilogy (written by Paul Magrs, channeling Douglas Adams) called 'Baker's End.' Spoiler: Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow... "Peevish actors are descending mournfully upon the remote English village of Happenstance for the funeral of TV legend Tom Baker. His one-time co-star Suzy Goshawk (Katy Manning) is sucked into a parochial vortex of intrigue involving the quailsome local vicar (David Benson), Tom's acidulous housekeeper Mrs Frimbly (Susan Jameson) and various other fruminous scumblebums. None of them can agree upon how Tom met his disastrous end and Suzy is starting to suspect that something murksome and swervish is going on. The snow comes down and Suzy finds herself trapped at Baker's End for Christmas, with all the village's creepy pensioners enslaved by a strange, dancing dragon… and a Sinister Presence lurking on the sidelines. Why are old ladies twerking their bottoms outside the post office-cum-mini-mart? Why is the vicar creeping about in the bushes in the dead of night? And why, just when all looks hopeless, does a strange, scobberlotching creature sproing into view? Who exactly is The King Of Cats in his furry costume and his battered golden crown? Also, there are elderly mumblecrusts who shoot lasers out of their knockers."
I'm copy and pasting a by now well travelled story told by Tom some time back. Brings a tear to my eye most everytime... "I remember a man stopping me in Oxford Street once, looking at me with absolute incredulity; he couldn't believe it. He said, 'Tom Baker?' A man in his late thirties. I said, 'Yes'. He said, 'Tom Baker?' I said, 'Yes!' And he looked at me and in his brain he catapulted back in time and he said, 'You know, when I was a boy, I was in a home for children; nobody wanted us, you know? It was terrible. And you made Saturday night good.' And I went to say something to him and I could see him so close to tears that he couldn't speak. And he shook his head as if to say, 'Don't go on, don't remind me' and he just did [a thumbs up]. Such a common thing, isn't it, but suddenly backed up with an expression on his face through his tears that was a knighthood. It was a kinghthood. Just thumbs up, meaning it was great, and thanks. It's incredible, isn't it? Just a gesture."
Thanks for the head's up! It looks like a mini nest cottage reunion. Susan Jameson playing Tom Baker's housekeeper "Mrs Frimbly" is clearly a continuation of her Mrs Wibbsey character. I'll definitely be giving this a listen come fall.