William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 â€" 23 April 1975) was an
English actor. While Hartnell made numerous stage and television
appearances and acted in over 75 British films, he is best remembered
today as the First Doctor in BBC Television's Doctor Who, which he
played from 1963 to 1966. He was also well known for his roles as
Sergeant Grimshaw, the title character of the first Carry On film,
Carry On Sergeant in 1958, and as Company Sergeant Major Percy
Bullimore in the sitcom The Army Game from 1957 to 1961.Hartnell was
born on 8 January 1908 in the slums of the district of St Pancras,
London, England, the only child of Lucy Hartnell, an unmarried mother.
Hartnell never discovered the identity of his father, whose
particulars were left blank on his birth certificate, despite his
efforts to trace him. In various interviews, he claimed that he was
born in Seaton, Devon, and that his father was a dairy farmer and
later was a soldier turned stockbroker.He was brought up partly by a
foster mother, and also spent many holidays in Devon with his mother's
family of farmers, from whom he learned to ride horses. Reportedly,
Hartnell had a fall and was kicked by a horse. An unspecified person
applied disinfectant to the open wound in an apparent attempt to
cleanse it. The disinfectant however was of a type unsuitable for
first aid purposes and caused blisters. The end result was a worse
wound than would otherwise be the case. This left him with a large
scar on his temple, which is actually visible in some of his stills
shots even though it was covered with make-up during filming. He was a
second cousin of the fashion designer Norman Hartnell. William Hartnell Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter