Later Life
Hartnell reprised the role of the Doctor in the 10th Anniversary story The Three Doctors (made in 1972, and broadcast 1972–73) with the help of cue cards, due to his failing memory, but appeared only in pre-filmed inserts seen on video screens. His appearance in this story was his last work as an actor. His health had grown progressively worse in the early 1970s, and in December 1974 he was admitted to hospital permanently. He lived in later life at Sheephurst Lane in Marden, Kent. In early 1975 he suffered a series of strokes brought on by cerebrovascular disease, and died peacefully in his sleep of heart failure on 23 April 1975, at the age of 67. His death was reported on the BBC News and a clip of the Doctor in the TARDIS from the end of "The OK Corral", the final episode of The Gunfighters, was shown.
A clip of his scene from the end of the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964) was used as a pre-credits sequence for the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983), although another actor, Richard Hurndall, played the role of the first Doctor for the rest of that story.
Hartnell was married to Heather McIntyre from 9 May 1929 until his death. They had one child, a daughter, Heather Anne, and two grandchildren. His widow, Heather, died in 1984. The only published biography of him is by his granddaughter, Jessica Carney (real name Judith), entitled Who's There, and subtitled The life and career of William Hartnell.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
“From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
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Winds somewhere safe to sea.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)
“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly you find—at the age of fifty, say—that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about.... It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.”
—Agatha Christie (1891–1976)