Jon Pertwee (1919 – 1996) was an English actor and the third Doctor Who. He played the role from 1970 until 1974, and starred in 128 episodes over 5 series. He was the third oldest actor to take on the role, at the age of 50, with his final episode when he was 54.
Like his Doctor Who predecessor, Jon Pertwee also served for the Royal Navy in World War Two, and was lucky to escape going down with HMS Hood after the German Battleship Bismarck sank it not long after Pertwee had been transferred off to go for Officer training. All but 3 men of the HMS Hood were lost from the attack. Pertwee went on to work for British Naval Intelligence, alongside Ian Flemming who eventually would write the James Bond novels.
Apart from his Doctor Who role, Pertwee was very well known for his TV role as the Scarecrow Worzel Gummidge in the late 70’s and late 80’s, and in fact, when he died in 1996 in Connecticut, USA, following his instructions a toy Worzel Gummidge was affixed to his coffin before his cremation.
Jon Pertwee left his role as Doctor Who in because of typecasting though he also said the death of his friend and co-star Roger Delgado (The Master) and the departure of co-star
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