Interesting Doctor Who related trivia I discovered...

[Chaos Descending]

I was watching The Great Escape yesterday, and I noticed that William Russell (Ian Chesterton) was in it. I had never noticed this before.

Now I knew that The Great Escape was based on a true story about officers escaping from a German POW camp, but I had never read into "the real story", so I looked it up. I found out that one of the prisoners in the real Stalag was one Peter Butterworth. He went on to become an actor, and portray the first Time Lord other than the Doctor to be shown on the series, namely everyone's favorite Meddling Monk!

I just thought that this was neat.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I knew William Russell was in the film but I don't think I knew about the Peter Butterworth connectin.

 

[DWF]

William Russell was also one of the Krytonian elders in the first Superman movie.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Ah yes, the famous "8th Elder".

 

[23skidoo]

Ah yes, the famous "8th Elder".

Yeah, the one who spent most of his time out of focus in the background during Marlon Brando's "it's genocide!" speech. Oh well...

It's fun spotting past - and future - Doctor Who actors in other shows. I was watching one of the black and white Emma Peel episodes of The Avengers and in one episode there was this rather nutty general who was writing his memoirs by reenacting famous battles in his living room - and I realized it was Jon Pertwee. And there's an old Danger Man/Secret Agent episode with Patrick Troughton playing a particularly mean enemy agent. Apparently there's a St. Trinian's movie out there with Carole Ann Ford playing a decidedly non-Susan-like character, too.

Alex

 

[Chaos Descending]

I like Patrick Troughton's appearance in the Ray Harryhausen film, "Jason and the Argonauts" too. It's always nice seeing Who actors in other things.

I almost fell over when I was a kid and I saw an episode of Magnum P.I. where Magnum went to England. Who did I see? Peter friggin' Davison!

 

[Captaindemotion]

^Around the same time, Tom Baker guested in Remington Steele.

 

[John Picard]

I was watching The Great Escape yesterday, and I noticed that William Russell (Ian Chesterton) was in it. I had never noticed this before.

Now I knew that The Great Escape was based on a true story about officers escaping from a German POW camp, but I had never read into "the real story", so I looked it up. I found out that one of the prisoners in the real Stalag was one Peter Butterworth. He went on to become an actor, and portray the first Time Lord other than the Doctor to be shown on the series, namely everyone's favorite Meddling Monk!

I just thought that this was neat.

I watched a PBS special on The Great Escape. Interviews were conducted with survivors and archaeologists searching for remains of the tunnels. It's fascinating how the plan was carried out, and sure enough remains from the tunnels were found (ie the "train tracks").

 

[ClayinCA]

And of course, both Troughton and Baker had featured roles in Sinbad movies (though not the same one).

 

[Rarewolf]

It's fun spotting past - and future - Doctor Who actors in other shows.

On the Loose Cannon Recon of Faceless Ones they show clips of some of Anneke's other 60s roles. It's odd seing her in colour!

This photo has cropped up on a few forums, from a 1953 picture called 'Will Any Gentleman'

magical

 

[Mr. Sin]

The Star Wars and James Bond films are also good places to find WHO related actors.

 

[Captaindemotion]

The Star Wars and James Bond films are also good places to find WHO related actors.

There's Peter Cushing (the Dr Who of the 1960s movies) in ANH for one. Funny enough, when pictures of Wayne Pygram as young Tarkin from ROTS first appeared online, aintitcoolnews. erroneously reported that it was Christopher Eccleston (pre DW).

I can also think of the late Michael Sheard from ESB, something of a stalwart of British TV shows including Who (no DW or SW character was ever as terrifying as his Mr Bronson in Grange Hill, though). More recently Hugh Quarshie was in TPM and Dr Who's Daleks in New York.

Colin Salmon from the Brosnan Bond movies was in DW's Library of the Dead. I also think that guy who played Rassilon in TEOT was in a couple of Bond movies ...

I always like to point out that Eccleston and current 007 Daniel Craig were in Our Friends in The North early in their careers. It also featured current villain du jour Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Green Lantern - to be directed by Martin Campbell of Bond fame) in a leading role. Eccleston's movie debut Let Him Have It was written by Bond regular scribes Wade and Purves. And a pre-DW William Hartnell appeared in a movie called Hell Drivers with a pre-007 Sean Connery, a pre-Man From Uncle David McCallum and a pre-Danger Man/ The Prisoner Patrick McGoohan. McCallum also appeared alongside a pre-Who Tom Baker in a movie called Frankenstein: The True Story.

Patrick Troughton appeared as a priest in The Omen, which also featured David Warner, who has appeared in DW alternate media and quite a bit of Trek. GOing back to the original post (The Great Escape, Stalag), Troughton also appeared in the tv show Colditz.

Jon Pertwee was in One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, as was Clive Revell, who played The Emperor in ESB and was for a while anyway, the only person to have appeared in Stars Trek and Wars. Oh, and Revill also hanged Eccleston in Let Him Have It (he played the real-life executioner Pierrepoint). Pertwee's last role was in Young Indiana Jones, in an ep which featured recent(ish) Who guest star Marc Warren, plus SW's Anthony Daniels.

Tom Baker played Rasputin in a 1960s movie, Nicholas and Alexandra which also featured recent DW guest star Brian Cox as Trotsky and Julian Glover, who has done lots of Who and some Bond.

David Tennant first came to prominence in Casanova, whose older self was played by Peter O'Toole, who was rumoured to be playing the Doctor's father during the 1990s, while the long-gestating movie was in development.

I'm officially Who-triviaed out.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

It's fun spotting past - and future - Doctor Who actors in other shows.

On the Loose Cannon Recon of Faceless Ones they show clips of some of Anneke's other 60s roles. It's odd seing her in colour!

This photo has cropped up on a few forums, from a 1953 picture called 'Will Any Gentleman'

magical

Doesn't Pertwee look like the spitting image of a Danny Kaye....cracking pic though.

 

[Candlelight]

Warning - circular trivia follows...

And there's an old Danger Man/Secret Agent episode with Patrick Troughton playing a particularly mean enemy agent.

He also appeared in an episode of The Protectors in 1973, funnily enough using the same accent he used as Salamander in The Enemy of the World. That series starred Robert Vaughn and Tony Anholt, the latter who would later go on to star in Space 1999's horrid second season. Funnily enough, Tony's son Christien would go on to appear in The Curse of Fenric!

 

[Joy]

Kevin McNally, who was Hugo Lang in "The Twin Dilemma," was the wonderful Mr. Gibbs in Pirates of the Caribbean.

And imagine my pleasant surprise in seeing Geoffrey the Butler, Joseph Marcell, in "Remembrance of the Daleks."

Oh what I kick I've been getting out of watching Classic Who and seeing who I can recognize.

 

[Chaos Descending]

General Veers from TESB was Scaroth the Jagaroth in The City of Death!

 

[Stevil2001]

I almost fell over when I was a kid and I saw an episode of Magnum P.I. where Magnum went to England. Who did I see? Peter friggin' Davison!

Man, there's a great interview with Davison somewhere where he talks about how it taught him the differences between American and British television. Wish I knew where that was.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant shared one scene together in the film Jude.

 

[ClayinCA]

Tom Baker played Rasputin in a 1960s movie, Nicholas and Alexandra which also featured recent DW guest star Brian Cox as Trotsky and Julian Glover, who has done lots of Who and some Bond.

...and which also starred future Valeyard Michael Jayston as Nicholas, 'The Keys of Marinus' actress Katherine Schofield, future 'Ghost Light' guest star John Hallam, future 'Twin Dilemma' guest star Maurice Denham...this thing was full of Doctor Who actors!

 

[diankra]

I was watching The Great Escape yesterday, and I noticed that William Russell (Ian Chesterton) was in it. I had never noticed this before.

Now I knew that The Great Escape was based on a true story about officers escaping from a German POW camp, but I had never read into "the real story", so I looked it up. I found out that one of the prisoners in the real Stalag was one Peter Butterworth. He went on to become an actor, and portray the first Time Lord other than the Doctor to be shown on the series, namely everyone's favorite Meddling Monk!

I just thought that this was neat.

IIRC, Butterworth auditioned to play the character based on himself, and was rejected because 'he didn't look like a war hero'.