Anthony Ainley (20 August 1932 – 3 May 2004) was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the Master in Doctor Who. He was the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado in 1973.
He was born in London the son of the actor Henry Ainley. His half-brother, Richard Ainley, was also an actor.
Ainley's swarthy appearance tended to get him parts as villains, though an early regular role on British television was as Det. Sgt Hunter, sidekick to William Mervyn's Chief Inspector Rose in the second series of It's Cold Outside in 1966. Other notable roles include a subaltern in the 1969 film version of Oh! What a Lovely War, Dietz in the 1975 film version of The Land That Time Forgot, Fallowfield in the Tigon film Blood on Satan's Claw, Rev. Emilius in the BBC's adaptation of The Pallisers, Henry Sidney in Elizabeth R, Clive Hawksworth in Spyder's Web, Johnson in the first episode of the BBC programme Secret Army, and Sunley in The Avengers episode "Noon Doomsday". He was also one of the Hong Kong policemen who discover James Bond's supposed corpse in the opening sequence of You Only Live Twice.
Reportedly, it was his performance as Rev. Emilius that led to him being offered the role of the Master by John Nathan-Turner, who had worked on The Pallisers seven years before becoming producer of Doctor Who. Ainley portrayed the Master first in the 1981 serial The Keeper of Traken and appeared in almost every season up until the cancellation of the series in 1989, appearing in the original programme's final serial, Survival. He later reprised the role for the 1997 BBC computer game Destiny of the Doctors.
As the Master often appeared in disguise for one or more episodes of any given story, with the "big reveal" of the character's true identity usually being a major plot twist or cliffhanger, Ainley was sometimes credited using an anagram of his name in order to try and avoid giving away the fact that a certain character was actually a disguised Master. Some of these included Neil Toynay in Castrovalva and Leon Ny Taiy in Time-Flight.
Ainley's great love of the role is often cited in documentaries and DVD commentaries. Script Editor Eric Saward claimed that he introduced himself over the phone by saying "This is the Master" and then would laugh. In the commentary and documentary for Mark of the Rani, both Colin Baker and Kate O'Mara say that "He only ever wanted to play the Master". Colin Baker remarked that he could afford this luxury because he built up a private income by the mid 1980s.
Ainley was also a keen club cricketer- even abruptly citing Sophie Aldred (who played Ace) as his friend once he learned that she played cricket. He appeared on many occasions for The Stage And London Theatres C.C mainly as an opening batsman. It was also noted that he "despised cheeses of all kinds".
References
^ Obituary in The Guardian
^ Peter The Lords Cat And Other Unexpected Obituaries From Wisden, Gideon Haigh (ed.) John Wisden + Co, London, 2006 pp.3
External links
Anthony Ainley at the Internet Movie Database
Obituary in The Guardian
Obituary in The Independent
Tribute Site
Preceded by
Geoffrey Beevers
The Master
1981-1989
Succeeded by
Eric Roberts
Persondata
NAME
Ainley, Anthony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
English actor
DATE OF BIRTH
August 20, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH
London, England
DATE OF DEATH
May 3, 2004
PLACE OF DEATH
Harrow, England
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Ainley"
Categories: 1922 births | 2004 deaths | English film actors | English television actors | People from London | Doctor Who stubs | Deaths by myocardial infarction
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