Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 07:44, 6 September 2012

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Tom Baker" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Tom Baker
Baker in 2010
Born	Thomas Stewart Baker (1934-01-20) 20 January 1934 (age 90) Liverpool, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1968–present
Spouse(s)	Anna Wheatcroft (1961–1966) Lalla Ward (1980–1982) Sue Jerrard (1986–present)
Children	2
Website	http://www.tom-baker.co.uk

Thomas Stewart "Tom" Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1974 to 1981.

Early life

Baker was born in Scotland Road, Liverpool, England. His mother, Mary Jane (née Fleming), was a cleaner, and his father, John Stewart Baker was a Jewish English sailor who was rarely at home. His parents were working class Liverpudlians. Baker left school at 15 to become a Roman Catholic monk and remained in this lifestyle for six years, but left after losing his faith. He did his national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, serving from 1955 until 1957. At the same time, he took up acting, first as a hobby but he turned professional towards the end of the 1960s.

Career

Early work

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Baker was part of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre company and had his first big film break in 1971 with the role of Rasputin in the film Nicholas and Alexandra (after Olivier recommended him for the part). He also appeared in Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1972 version of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales as the younger husband of the Wife of Bath.

Doctor Who (1974–1981)

In 1974, Baker took over the role of the Doctor from Jon Pertwee. He was recommended to producer Barry Letts by the BBC's Head of Serials, Bill Slater, who had directed Baker in Play of the Month. Impressed by Baker upon meeting him, Letts was convinced he was right for the part after seeing his performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Baker was working on a construction site at the time, as acting jobs were scarce. Initially he was dubbed "Boiler Suit Tom" by the media because he had been supplied for a press conference with some old studio set clothes to replace his modest garments.

He quickly made the part his own. As the Fourth Doctor, his eccentric style of dress and speech (particularly his trademark long scarf and fondness for jelly babies) made him an immediately recognisable figure, and he quickly caught the viewing public's imagination. Baker played the Doctor for seven consecutive seasons over a seven-year period, making him the longest-serving actor in the part. Baker himself suggested many aspects of his Doctor's personality, but the distinctive scarf was created by accident. James Acheson, the costume designer, had provided far more wool than was necessary to the knitter, Begonia Pope; Pope knitted all the wool she was given. It was Baker who suggested that he wear the ridiculously long scarf. When John Nathan-Turner took over as producer of Doctor Who in 1981, Tom Baker was infuriated by the changes made to his wardrobe.

The Doctor played by Tom Baker (1974–1981) is often regarded as the most popular of the Doctors. In polls conducted by Doctor Who Magazine, Baker has lost the "Best Doctor" category only three times: once to Sylvester McCoy in 1990, and twice to David Tennant in 2006 and 2009. In a poll published by BBC Homes and Antiques magazine in January 2006, Baker was voted the fourth most eccentric star. He was beaten by Björk, Chris Eubank, and David Icke.

He 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 his time on the programme. He reappeared as the Doctor for the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time and audio for the PC game Destiny of the Doctors. In 1996 he appraised his time on the show as the highlight of his life. He is often interviewed as part of documentaries on the extras of Doctor Who DVD releases from his era as the Doctor and has recorded DVD commentaries for many of the stories. In a 2004 interview regarding the series' revival, Baker suggested that he be cast as the Master. In a 2006 interview with the Sun newspaper, he claims that he has not watched any episodes of the new series because he "just can't be bothered". In June 2006, Baker once again expressed interest in the role in a guest 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."

While Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann have all reprised their roles for audio adventures produced since the 1990s by Big Finish (and sometimes the BBC), Baker had declined to voice the Doctor until 2009, claiming that he hadn't seen a script he liked. In July 2009, the BBC announced that Baker would return to the role for a series of five audio dramas, co-starring Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, which would begin release in September. The five audios comprise a single linked story under the banner title Hornets' Nest, written by well-known author Paul Magrs. He returns with a sequel to Hornets' Nest called Demon Quest. Baker has also filmed inserts for a video release of the unfinished Shada in 1992, presented the video release The Tom Baker Years (a look back at his time on the series watching short clips from his episodes) and also provided narration for several BBC audio releases of old Doctor Who stories.

In March 2011, it was announced that Baker would be returning as the Fourth Doctor for two series of plays for Big Finish Productions, starring alongside former companions Leela (Louise Jameson) and Romana I (Mary Tamm). The first series of six audios were released starting from January 2012 Big Finish had also arranged for Baker to record a series of stories reuniting him with Elisabeth Sladen's character Sarah Jane Smith (for which special permission was obtained from the producers of The Sarah Jane Adventures TV series), but Sladen died in April 2011 before any stories could be recorded.

Baker has been involved in the reading of old Target novelisations in the BBC Audio range of talking books, "Doctor Who (Classic Novels)". Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was the first release in the range read by Baker, released on 5 November 2007, followed by Baker reading Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius (released 4 February 2008), Doctor Who and the Creature from the Pit (released on 7 April 2008) and Doctor Who and the Pyramids of Mars (released 14 August 2008). In October 2009, Baker was interviewed for BBC Radio 4's Last Word to pay tribute to the deceased former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts. He described Letts, who originally cast him in the role, as "the big link in changing my entire life".

Little Britain

After his work on Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World, Baker was cast as a similar narrator of Little Britain on BBC Radio 4 and remained in the role when it transferred to television. Baker has suggested that he was chosen for the part in Little Britain due to his popularity with Lucas and Walliams, part of the generation to whom he is the favourite Doctor. "I am now being employed by the children who grew up watching me," he stated in a DVD commentary. Another trademark of Little Britain's narration is the deadpan quotation of old rap lyrics, usually in the opening credit sequence. On 17 November 2005, to mark the start of the third series of Little Britain, Baker read the continuity announcements on BBC One from 7 pm to 9:30 pm GMT. The scripts were written by Lucas and Walliams; Baker assumed his Little Britain persona. He used lines such as: "Hello, tellyviewers. You're watching the BBC One! 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."

Other television work

Baker played Puddleglum, a "marsh-wiggle", in the BBC adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair. Baker also portrayed Sherlock Holmes in a four part BBC miniseries version of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1982. In the U.S., this production was telecast on A&E. Baker also made an appearance in Blackadder II as the sea captain Redbeard Rum.

During the third series of the British game show Cluedo, he was cast as Professor Plum, a "man with a degree in suspicion." Tom Baker was also in the series Strange in 2004 as a blind priest who possessed knowledge of the Devil. He also appeared as a guest on the quiz show Have I Got News For You and was subsequently described by presenter Angus Deayton as the funniest guest in the show's history. A particular highlight of the show was when Baker gave an anecdotal account of how he, whilst entering a recording studio in Wales, was accosted by a member of the public who told Baker: "I will never forgive you, nor will my wife, for what you did to our grammar schools." Baker responded with: "What are you talking about, you daft bugger?" to which the stranger replied: "I'm so sorry. For a moment I thought you were Shirley Williams".

According to the Daily Mirror, Baker's appearance made him a cult figure once again and helped revive his career. He later returned to Have I Got News For You as a guest host in 2008. Baker played the role of the Captain in the Challenge version of Fort Boyard, and has also hosted the children's literature show, The Book Tower. He has recorded a show called, Tom Baker – In Confidence to be shown in April 2010.

Film

Baker also appeared in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra as Grigori Rasputin. He was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his performance, one for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and another for Best Newcomer. Baker appeared as Moore, an artist whose paintings are imbued with voodoo power, in The Vault of Horror (1973), as Koura, the villainous sorcerer, in Ray Harryhausen's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973); and as Halvarth, the Elven healer, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000).

In the late 1990s, it was reported that Baker was a candidate for the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films. Baker has since stated that he was only approached for "a role" in the film, and turned down the offer when told that it would mean spending months away in New Zealand.

Voice acting

Baker has appeared in various radio productions, including a role as "Britain's most celebrated criminal barrister", Sir Edward Marshall-Hall in John Mortimer Presents the Trials of Marshall Hall (1996), "Josiah Bounderby" in Charles Dickens' Hard Times (1998) and a part in the 2001 BBC Radio 4 version of The Thirty-Nine Steps as Sir Walter Bullivant. He guest starred in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (a pastiche series written by Bert Coules) in the 2002 episode "The Saviour of Cripplegate Square". From 2000 to 2005 Tom voiced the character Max Bear in the Channel 4 (UK) Max Bear Productions animated series. More recently, he voiced the role of the villain ZeeBad in the 2005 computer-animated film version of The Magic Roundabout. In 2007 he voiced the character of Robert Baron in the BBC animated series The Secret Show.

Baker narrates the children's computer animation series The Beeps which is shown on Channel 5's Milkshake! as well as narrating Tales of Aesop on BBC, a television series based on Aesop's Fables with beautiful puppet animation. Most recently, Baker has returned to the role of the Fourth Doctor, first in three series of audio adventures for BBC Audiobooks: Hornet's Nest, Demon Quest and Serpents' Crest; and now in a new series of Doctor Who audio adventures for Big Finish Productions also starring Louise Jameson as "Leela".

Video games

Baker starred as the Fourth Doctor in the 1997 video game Destiny of the Doctors. His voice has also been featured in Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (2000), Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (2003), "Sudeki" (2004), Cold Winter (2005), MediEvil: Resurrection, Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, and Little Britain: The Video Game (2007).

Narration

Baker is a prolific and highly recognisable voiceover artist. In a 2005 survey of British adults, Baker's voice was found to be the fourth most recognisable after the Queen, Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. In 1992 and 1993 Baker narrated BBC radio comedy series Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. In 1994, Baker provided the narration for Channel 4's Equinox rave documentary Rave New World. In 2002 he had a speaking role in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Hostile Waters as the Narrator.

Baker provided the voiceover for the Perfect Dark (2000) TV adverts. He also voiced both the narrator and the god "Tetsu" in the role-playing game Sudeki, but was uncredited. During the first three months of 2006, his voice was used by BT for spoken delivery of text messages to landline phones. He recorded 11,593 phrases, containing every sound in the English language, for use by the text-to-speech service. The BT text message service returned from 1 December 2006 until 8 January 2007, with two pence from each text going to the charity Shelter. Also, a single "sung" by Baker's text voice, "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks, was released on 18 December 2006 with proceeds going to the charity. The creator of the song was Mark Murphy, designer of the site.

Baker's voice may be heard at London's Natural History Museum narrating commentary to some of the exhibits that support Darwin's theory of natural selection. He has made three other brief forays into the world of music: he provides the monologue to the track "Witness to a Murder (Part Two)" on the album Six by Mansun; he appears on Technocat's single "Only Human" in 1995, and in 2002 he recorded the monologue to the track "Megamorphosis" on the album andabrek by Stephen James, although the album was not released until 2009. Baker provides narrative at two British tourist attractions: the Nemesis roller coaster at Alton Towers, Staffordshire; and the London Dungeon, a museum depicting gory and macabre events in the capital, narrating the events leading up to and comprising the Great Fire of London.

Tom Baker voiced the character "Max Bear", a series of animated stories broadcast on Channel 4 (UK Terrestrial) from 2000 to 2005. He narrated Australian cartoonist Bruce Petty's 2006 film about world politics, Global Haywire.

Books

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-style novel called The Boy Who Kicked Pigs (ISBN 0-571-19771-X).

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 and Baker lost contact with his sons until a chance meeting with Piers in a pub in New Zealand allowed them to renew their relationship. In December 1980 he married Lalla Ward who had co-starred in Doctor Who (playing his companion Romana) with him for two years. However, the marriage lasted only 16 months.

In 1986, Baker married for a third time, this time to Sue Jerrard, who had been an assistant editor on Doctor Who. They moved to the Bell House, a converted school in Boughton Malherbe near Maidstone, Kent where they kept several cats, before moving to France in January 2003. They sold the property to Vic Reeves, shortly after Baker had worked with him on Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). In November 2006, Baker returned to live in the UK, initially buying a house in Tunbridge Wells, before later moving to the East Sussex countryside.

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 shit. Now I'm not unhappy thinking about it because I can laugh at it." Politically, Baker has expressed disdain for both the Conservatives and the Labour Party saying, in 1998, "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."

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Radio

Bibliography

In popular culture

• British synthpop band the Human League recorded a tribute track to the actor entitled "Tom Baker". In 1981 it was released as the B-side to their "Boys and Girls" single. The instrumental track was re-released on some CD versions of their Travelogue album.

• A cartoon Tom Baker, as one of the "esteemed representatives of television", appeared as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, in The Simpsons episodes "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", "Treehouse of Horror X" and "Mayored to the Mob".

• His distinctive voice has become a gift for impressionists such as Jon Culshaw, who regularly impersonates Baker in the comedy series Dead Ringers: in one episode, he makes a prank call to Baker in character as the Doctor, which prompts the memorable reaction from the real Baker: "No, no, there must be a mistake, I'm the Doctor." Similarly, when Culshaw called another Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, in character, he got the response: "Tom? Is that you? Have you been down the pub?". Other typical "in character" send-ups for Culshaw would include asking a garage engineer to convert his TARDIS to unleaded and complaining of the 400-year journey time from Euston to Glasgow by train, on being told by National Rail enquiries that the 12.00 train arrived at 16.15.

• On the Leverage episode "The Mile High Job" Tom Baker, along with fellow former "Doctors" Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison, are mentioned as available fake IDs for the team to get on board an aircraft.

• In the first Family Guy Star Wars special, "Blue Harvest", the intro to the Fourth Doctor appears in a cutaway.

• He also appears in "The Beast With The Billion Backs", one of the Futurama movies.

References

1. Tom Baker at IMDb
2. Who is Tom Baker?. Uktv.co.uk.
3. New Humanist website, ibid. Newhumanist.org.uk.
4. IMDb profile
5. "A tribute to 'Doctor Who' legend Barry Letts".
6. Sullivan, Shannon Patrick (2 May 2006). "Robot". A Brief History of Time (Travel). Retrieved 18 March 2007.
7. "David Tennant named 'best Dr Who'". BBC News. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 25 February 2007.
8. "Bjork voted 'most eccentric' star". BBC News. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
9. English, Paul (11 September 2004). "OLD FATHER TIMELORD". Daily Record. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
10. Masters, Dave (1 February 2006). "Dr Who is alien to Tom". The Sun. Retrieved 17 August 2006.
11. "Tom Baker Returns to Doctor Who after 28 Years". . 16 July 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
12. "Doctor Who" Doctor Who: Demon Quest 1 The Relics of Time at BBC Shop. Bbcshop.com.
14. Nicholas Briggs, "Remembering Elisabeth Sladen", Doctor Who Magazine No.440, October 2011, p. 34
15. Voice-over commentaries on the BBC DVD "Robot" (1974, 2007)
16. "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1982)
17. ^ Helen Weathers, "Who's got views for you", Daily Mirror, 30 December 1998
18. Tom Baker- In Confidence
19. Regina, Michael (26 October 1999). "Just Who on Earth is Tom Baker?". TheOneRing.net. Retrieved 17 August 2006.
20. BT Bring in the voice of Baker. Dailyrecord.co.uk.
21. "Equinox" Rave New World (1994)
22. Howson, Greg (26 August 2004). "Games watch". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2006.
23. "Voice of Little Britain becomes BT's voice of text" (Press release). BT Group. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 17 August 2006.
24. "Tom Baker Says ...". Tombakersays.com.
25. "Tom Baker says… "You really got me"" (Press release). BT Group. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
26. IMDb profile of Max Bear
27. Kent News interview with Baker
28. The Official Tom Baker Website. Tom-baker.co.uk.
29. Biodata. Tom-baker.co.uk.
30. Transcript of Tom Baker interviewed by Mark Gatiss at the British Film Institute, 29 September 2001. Web.archive.org (5 June 2011).
31. Mark Smith, "From Gallifrey to Glenbogle", The Herald, 17 September 2004
32. Late Night Story, 17 January 2008. screenonline.
33. UPC: 9780563394730

External links

• Official website
• Tom Baker at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com
• Tom Baker Biography – British Film Institute

Template:Persondata

• Use dmy dates from September 2012
• Alumni of Rose Bruford College
• Audio book narrators
• English film actors
• English humanists
• English radio actors
• English television actors
• English voice actors
• English Buddhists
• Former Roman Catholics
• Actors from Liverpool
• People from Rye, East Sussex
• 1934 births
• Living people