Patrick Troughton was the second actor to take on the mantle of British television's Doctor Who in the long­-running science-fiction series of the same name, playing the role for three years, from 1966 to 1969. This was by no means the only part he played on television, and he also had a full and varied career as an actor in the theater and in the cinema. However, it is for his flamboyant and quixotic portrayal of BBC's celebrated Time Lord that he is usually remembered.

     Troughton followed William Hartnell as Doctor Who after his predecessor, suffering from multiple sclerosis and disillusioned with the changing character of the program (which had originally been intended to have a strong educational content), withdrew from the series. Troughton determined at once that his Doctor would be in marked contrast to the white-haired dotty professor-type depicted by Hartnell, and in his hands the Doctor became a colorfully whimsical and capricious penny-whistle-playing eccentric who could be testy, courageous, and downright enigmatic as the mood took him. Such a radical change in character was made possible within the confines of the program through the introduction of the concept that the Doctor underwent a mysterious regenerative metamorphosis at various stages of his centuries-long existence.

     Troughton settled quickly into the role, and children throughout Britain cowered behind the sofa as his Doctor did weekly battle with such fearsome alien foes as the Daleks and the Cybennen. After three years, he finally passed the responsibility for playing television's famous Time Lord on to Jon Pertwee.

By the time he was selected to play Doctor Who, Troughton had long established his reputation as a per­former in a wide range of roles and productions, being particularly well regarded as a Shakespearean actor. Among the most acclaimed of his previous appearances had been his performance as Adolph Hitler in the play Eva Braun at Edinburgh's Gateway Theatre in 1950, and supporting roles in Laurence Olivier's Shakespearean films Hamlet and Richard Ill. On television he had made appearances in such enduringly popular series as Coronation Street, in which he was George Barton, and Doctor Finlay's Casebook. No­ table among his later credits on the small screen were the series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, in which he was cast as the Duke of Norfolk, the World War II prison­ camp drama Co/ditz, and the sitcom The Two of Us, in which he gave his usual good value as Nicholas Lynd­ hurst's grandfather Perce (after Troughton's death, Tenniel Evans took over the role). Always a jobbing actor who was ready to tum his hand to a variety of roles of contrasting sizes, his familiar face would pop up in all manner of series, and he guest starred on Special Branch, The Protectors, The Goodies, Churchill's People, Minder, and Inspector Morse, to name but a few.

     But it was with Doctor Who that Troughton's name was destined to remain indelibly linked in the last years of his life. His death occurred while he was actually attending a Doctor Who convention in the United States.