Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee (/ˈpɜːrtwiː/;[1] 7 July 1919[2] – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. In his early career he worked as a stage comedian, which included performing at the Glasgow Empire Theatre and sharing a bill with Max Wall and Jimmy James.[3]
As an actor Pertwee appeared in many comedy roles, including four films in the Carry On series, and he became widely known for spending 18 years (1959–1977) playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in the popular sitcom The Navy Lark on BBC Radio.[4] On television, Pertwee starred as the Third Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who (1970–1974), hosted the game show Whodunnit? (1974–1978), and played the title character in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981 and 1987–1989). Towards the end of his life he maintained a close association with Doctor Who by appearing at many fan conventions related to the series and giving interviews. He also performed a one-man show called Who Is Jon Pertwee?.[5]
Born in Chelsea, London, and having French Huguenot ancestry (his surname was an Anglicisation of “Perthuis”; the origins of his surname being “de Perthuis de Laillevault”, the family being Counts descended from Charlemagne),[6][7] Jon was the son of screenwriter and actor Roland Pertwee and distant cousin of actor Bill Pertwee.[8] Pertwee’s mother, Avice Scholtz, separated from his father Roland when Pertwee was young. His father remarried, and his mother found a new partner, Louis Auguste De La Garde, with whom Pertwee did not build a relationship; she died in 1951, leaving Pertwee’s older brother Michael as her executor.[9] Avice’s sister Daphne married Captain Philip Cecil Clowes[10] and became the mother of Pertwee’s cousin, the writer St John Legh Clowes (1907–1951). Actor Henry Ainley, a close friend of his father, was his godfather. Coincidentally, Ainley’s son Anthony appeared as the Master – a renegade Time Lord who was The Doctor’s greatest enemy – alongside Pertwee in the Doctor Who anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983).
Pertwee was educated at Frensham Heights School, an independent school in Rowledge, near Farnham in Surrey, at Sherborne School in Dorset, and at some other schools from which he was expelled. After school, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 1939.[11] He was accused of writing graffiti about the tutors on the lavatory walls.[12]
