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Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor from 1974 to 1981 in Doctor Who, and for narrating Little Britain. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role as Rasputin in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra. He had also played the mad Captain Redbeard Rum in Blackadder II in the episode Potato.
r was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, son of Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, and John Stewart Baker, a sailor rarely at home.
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Actors are able to trick themselves into treating anything as if it's fantastic. It's a kind of madness really.
I'm obsessive about the kind of melodrama of getting through the days and trying to make them good and funny and a happy experience. But my feeling towards the fans is that they delivered me from darkness.
I never examined what I did in any great detail because I thought it would spoil things. I never read the scripts at all carefully, and never wanted to know what was going on, because I felt that being a benevolent alien that's the way it should be.
I have never described the time I was in Doctor Who as anything except a kind of ecstatic success, but all the rest has been rather a muddle and a disappointment. Compared to Doctor Who, it has been an outrageous failure really - it's so boring.
Not only don't I know who I am, but I'm very suspicious of people who do know who they are. I am sometimes ten or twelve people a day, and sometimes four or five people an hour!
Encyclopedia
Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor from 1974 to 1981 in Doctor Who, and for narrating Little Britain. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role as Rasputin in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra. He had also played the mad Captain Redbeard Rum in Blackadder II in the episode Potato.
Early life
Baker was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, son of Mary Jane (née Fleming), a cleaner, and John Stewart Baker, a sailor rarely at home. Baker was raised in a working class Irish Catholic and Jewish family who had a pet budgerigar called Herod. He left school at 15 to become a novice monk and remained for six years. He did his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1955 until 1957. At the same time he took up acting as a hobby.
Career
In 1971, Baker got his first break with the role of Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra. He also appeared nude in Pier Paolo Pasolini's version of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (I Racconti di Canterbury), in 1972, as a younger husband of the Wife of Bath.
Doctor Who (1974–1981)
In 1974, 40-year-old Baker took on the role of the Doctor in the BBC's Doctor Who from Jon Pertwee. He was cast because of his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time. He was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media, as he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.
As the Doctor, his eccentric dress and speech — particularly his long scarf and jelly babies — made him immediately recognisable. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons, the longest-serving actor in the part on-screen. Baker suggested many aspects of the Doctor's personality. The scarf came by accident: James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided more wool than necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope, who knitted all she was given; Baker suggested he wear the ridiculously long scarf.
In October, 1980, the BBC announced just before the serial Full Circle that Baker was leaving at the end of the 1981 season. Baker's departure was based partly on his feeling that he could not develop his role further, and partly on the new producer, John Nathan-Turner's, dislike of Baker's portrayal. Baker's last regular appearance as the Doctor was on 21 March 1981 at the conclusion of the story Logopolis.
Baker is often regarded the most popular of the Doctors. In polls by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only twice: once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and once to David Tennant in 2006.
Baker is not related to Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor, nor to Bob Baker, the script-writer for many episodes.
Baker's humour is like that of the character he played. When asked how he felt about having a star named after him, Baker quipped, "I'm over the moon!" In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank and David Icke.
Post Doctor Who
Baker continues to be associated with the Doctor, appearing on documentaries such as The Story of Doctor Who and Doctor Who Confidential and giving interviews about the programme. Although he reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors, he has declined to reprise the role, saying he hasn't seen a script he's liked. Baker has, however, filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada and narrated BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories. .
In 2004 regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with The Sun, he claimed that he has not watched the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker again expressed interest in the role in a column for Radio Times, noting that he "did watch a little bit of the new Doctor Who and I think the new fella, Tennant, is excellent."
Baker has been narrating old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first on 5 November 2007, followed by Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars on 14 August 2008.
Baker is the oldest living actor to have played the Doctor, having taken over after Jon Pertwee's death in 1996. Measuring 6ft 3in (190cm), he was also the tallest to play the part.
Little Britain
In 2001 Baker was narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4, and remained when it transferred to television. Baker suggested he was chosen due to his popularity with the show's creators, David Walliams and Matt Lucas, to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me", he said in a DVD commentary. His eccentric voice-overs include such comments as "The Conservative Party is my favourite political party, after Labour and the Lib Dems", and "If people in Britain want to buy a pet, they go to a pet shop. If they want to buy a pet shop, they go to a pet shop shop. If they want to buy a pet shop shop, then they're just being silly." During the credits of one programme, Baker suggested Queen Elizabeth should "pop one out" during her next address of Parliament. On the Little Britain Abroad special he remarked, "In Paris, Anne is paying a visit to the Louvre. At my age I'm up all night visiting the Louvre." Another trademark of Little Britains narration is deadpan quotation of rap lyrics, usually in the opening sequence.
On 17 November 2005, the start of Series 3 of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 7pm to 9.30pm. The scripts were written by Walliams and Lucas, and Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One!" and "In half an hour, Jenny Dickens's classic serial Bleak House. But first let's see what the poor people are up to in the first of two visits this evening to the EastEnders."
Baker continued as narrator for Little Britain USA, the American version, starring Walliams and Lucas on HBO.
Television
During the late 1970s, Baker appeared in four episodes of the BBC2 series Late Night Story and in each read an eerie tale involving childhood. Episodes ran for 15 minutes before the station closed for the night. One episode entitled Sredni Vashtar by Saki, went unscreened due to a writer's strike.
In the 1980s, Baker played Captain Redbeard Rum in the Blackadder II episode "Potato", Sherlock Holmes in the 1982 BBC version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and Father Ferguson in the 1986 BBC adaptation of The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.
In 1984, he made a rare American television appearance when he played Interpol agent Anatole Blaylock in an episode of the series Remington Steele ("Hounded Steele"), which starred Pierce Brosnan.
In 1990, he was Puddleglum in the BBC production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. He starred alongside "Big Mick", Camilla Power, Patsy Byrne, Geoffrey Russell and Richard Henders.
In the 1990s, Baker starred as the Software Agent in Douglas Adams's futurology Hyperland; played Professor Geoffrey Hoyt in Medics; and had a recurring role in the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer revival of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) as Wyvern, Hopkirk's mentor.
In 1992, Baker played Professor Plum in the third series of the mystery game show, Cluedo.
In 1998, he appeared on the comedy quiz Have I Got News for You and was described by presenter Angus Deayton as the funniest in the show's history. According to the Daily Mirror, Baker's appearance made him a cult figure once again and helped revive his career. Ten years later, Baker was invited back to host the edition broadcast on 31 October 2008.
In 2003 he appeared in the final episode of the science fiction series Strange as a blind vicar.
In 2004 and 2005, Baker appeared in the sixth and seventh series of the BBC drama Monarch of the Glen. He played Donald MacDonald, an eccentric former car champion who, having been away since early childhood, returns after hearing of the death of his brother Hector (who was played by Richard Briers until his departure).
Baker played the Captain in the Challenge version of Fort Boyard, and has hosted the children's literature show The Book Tower.
He played Robert Baron in the BBC's children's series The Secret Show.
In 2006, Baker starred as the voice-over in the TV-advertisement for the album Inside In/Inside Out by The Kooks, an English Indie-rock band.
The episode "Towards Zero" from the Marple series starred Baker as Freddy Treves.
Film
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) - Grigori Rasputin The Canterbury Tales (film) (1971) - Jenkin The Vault of Horror (1973) (the sequel to Tales from the Crypt (1972)) - Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) - Koura The Mutations (1974) (aka The Freakmaker) - Lynch Dungeons & Dragons (2000) - Halvarth
In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and when told that it would mean months in New Zealand, turned down the offer.
He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role in Nicholas and Alexandra, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer.
Voice acting
Baker has appeared in radio productions including as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall (1996), and in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant. He appeared in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a pastiche by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square". He also played Barley Blair, the main character in a BBC audio play of John le Carré's The Russia House.
From 2000 to 2005 Baker voiced Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. He voiced the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film of The Magic Roundabout.
He also voices a jingle for Imperial College Radio; saying "This is Tom Baker and you're listening to IC Radio".
He is the narrator of the children's computer animation The Beeps on Five's Milkshake! and the voice artist in a "Fords of Winsford" advert.
For three months in 2006 he read SMS text messages sent to British Telecom landlines.
Music
Baker voiced the spoken word part on the track "Witness To A Murder (Part 2)" on Mansun's second album Six.
Tom also voiced the monologue on the track "Megamorphosis" on the album Andabrek by the UK artiste Stephen James.
Video games
Baker returned as the Fourth Doctor in the video game Destiny of the Doctors in 1997. He narrated the cutscenes of Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (2000), and his voice has also featured in Hostile Waters (2001), Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (2003), Cold Winter (2005) and Little Britain: The Video Game (2007). Though uncredited, Baker also narrates the epilogue to the video game Sudeki and narrates MediEvil: Resurrection.
Writings
Baker's autobiography, Who on Earth is Tom Baker? (ISBN 0-00-638854-X), was published in 1997. He has also written a short fairytale novel The Boy Who Kicked Pigs (ISBN 0-571-19771-X), subtitled "A Grotesque Masterpiece".
Personal life
Baker's first marriage in 1961 was to Anna Wheatcroft (niece of the rose grower Harry Wheatcroft). They had two sons, Daniel and Piers, but divorced in 1966. Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a pub in New Zealand. In December 1981, he married Lalla Ward who had starred in Doctor Who (playing his companion Romana) with him for two years. The marriage lasted only sixteen months.
In 1986, Baker married Sue Jerrard, an assistant editor on Doctor Who. They moved to an old manse in Boughton Malherbe near Maidstone, Kent where they kept cats, before emigrating to France in 2002. They sold the property to Vic Reeves after Baker had worked with him on Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). He still visits Tunbridge Wells. In 2006, Baker and his wife moved to Sussex.
Several reference books in the late 1980s reported that Baker died of a drug overdose in 1982. The confusion arose from the death of an American actor also called Tom Baker. The American Baker had died of a drug overdose that year. Baker does have a reputation, acknowledged in his autobiography, of being a drinker, and makes humorous references to it. For example, in response to inquiries about his time as the Doctor he often replies, "You will have to excuse me but I was drunk at the time."
Baker has sceptical views on religion and describes himself as irreligious, or occasionally as Buddhist, but not anti-religious. "People are quite happy believing the wrong things. I wasn't unhappy believing all that silliness. Now I'm not unhappy thinking about it because I can laugh at it."
Baker expresses disdain for both the Conservatives and the Blairite Labour Party saying, in 1997, "When the Conservatives were in I cannot tell you how much I hated them. But I realise how shallow I am because I now hate the Labour Party as much."
In popular culture
- British synthpop band The Human League recorded a tribute track to the actor entitled "Tom Baker". In 1980 it was released as the B-side to their "Boys and Girls" single. The instrumental track was re-released on some versions of their
Travelogue album.
- A cartoon Tom Baker, as one of the "esteemed representatives of television", appeared as the fourth of The Doctor, in
The Simpsons episodes "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" and "Treehouse of Horror X".
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