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RIP Nicholas Courtney........sad news.
I grew up with Jon Pertwee's Doctor and the UNIT family, the Brigadier was a great character and played beautifully by Nicholas Courtney.
I had the pleasure of meeting him once some years ago...my god.... i feel so sad hearing this news.
Thoughts with his wife and family.
You will always live on
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Posted: |
Feb 23, 2011 - 9:41 AM
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By: |
johnjohnson
(Member)
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Tribute to Nicholas Courtney, courtesy of Planet Mondas.
It is with a heavy heart that we must report the death of Doctor Who legend Nicholas Courtney.
Nicholas Courtney (born William Nicholas Stone Courtney on 16th December 1929 in Cairo, Egypt) was the son of a British diplomat. He did National Service in the British Army in 1950, leaving after eighteen months, having decided not to pursue a career in the military. Courtney then joined the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and appeared in rep for two years in Northampton before moving to London.
Nicholas Courtney’s first appearence on television was as a Warrant Officer in the 1957 series Escape, followed by playing King Charles II in Looking About and Mark Norman in an episode of No Hiding Place. Courtney went on to appear in such shows as Callan, Sword of Honour, The Saint, The Champions, The Avengers and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
Nicholas Courtney’s first appearence in Doctor Who was in 1965 as Space Security Agent Bret Vyon in the classic story The Daleks’ Master Plan, but it is as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart that he will be most fondly remembered. Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart first appeared in the 1968 story The Web of Fear. Courtney had been cast as Captain Knight but was recast as Lethbridge-Stewart by director Douglas Camfield when original actor David Langton pulled out. A year later Courtney returned as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in The Invasion, leading the British arm of UNIT, an organisation created to protect the Earth from threats from outer space. The Brigadier became a regular character during the Jon Pertwee era and Courtney is the only actor to have appeared with every classic series Doctor Who, either on television or in the Doctor Who audios. Courtney’s last appearence in Doctor Who was in Battlefield in 1989 although he did reprise his role in 1993 for the Children in Need special Dimensions in Time. In December 2008 Sir Alistair made a cameo appearence in the two-part Sarah Jane Adventures story Enemy of the Bane.
During his long and distinguished career Nicholas Courtney also appeared in such shows as Minder, All Creatures Great and Small, Only Fools and Horses and Yes, Prime Minister. He was also cast in the Frankie Howerd WW2 comedy series Then Churchill Said To Me, which went untransmitted for a decade due to the outbreak of the Falklands Conflict. Courtney was also a regular in the comedy series French Fields. More recently Courtney appeared in shows such as The Bill, Doctors and Casualty, and appeared alongside Ewan McGregor as the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 2008 film Incendiary.
Nicholas Courtney, who became honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society in 1997, also made numerous appearences at Doctor Who events all over the UK and abroad; his warm personality and sense of humour ensuring he was soon as much-loved as himself as his on-screen character.
Nicholas Courtney wrote two autobiographies, Five Rounds Rapid! in 1998 and Still Getting Away With It in 2005.
Our sincerest condolences go to Mr Courtney’s wife and family at this sad time.
William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16th December 1929 – 22nd February 2011)
http://www.planetmondas.com/
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