Nicholas Courtney

Biography

Nicholas Courtney was an Egyptian-born British actor who became best known for playing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who. Born in Cairo and educated in France, Kenya and Egypt before training at London's Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, he began television work in the 1957 series Escape and took guest roles in shows such as The Avengers and The Champions. The director Douglas Camfield first cast him in Doctor Who as Bret Vyon and later as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, a part he played in 101 episodes from 1970 to 1975. He returned to it for the twentieth anniversary story The Five Doctors (1983), and his last outing as the character came in the 1989 serial Battlefield. He kept working in theater and television, including French Fields from 1989 to 1991, and his last film role was in Incendiary (2008). He died in 2011.

81years old at death

Born December 16, 1929Cairo
Died February 22, 2011London
Star sign: SagittariusThe sign runs November 22 to December 21
Also credited as William Nicholas Stone Courtney and William Courtney

Movie Career

Films: 4
Career span: 42 years1966 to 2008

Every film, newest first

2008IncendiaryIMDb rating 5.8
1983Doctor Who: The Five DoctorsIMDb rating 8.1
1969Journey to the Far Side of the SunIMDb rating 6.3
1966The Brides of Fu ManchuIMDb rating 5.5

Genres

Did you know?!

A role that slipped away
Douglas Camfield, a director during William Hartnell's time as the First Doctor, first thought of Courtney for Richard the Lionheart in the 1965 serial The Crusade, but Julian Glover ultimately got the role.
Big break
Camfield liked Courtney's performance, so when he directed the 1968 serial The Web of Fear, he cast him as Captain Knight. After David Langton quit as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart, Camfield handed Courtney that part instead.
A first
Courtney played Lethbridge-Stewart in television and spin-off audio plays with every later Doctor, up to and including Paul McGann, and with Richard Hurndall, the substitute First Doctor.
A first
Courtney was the only person to appear in every Doctor Who anniversary story before "The Day of the Doctor". In that episode, the Brigadier was mentioned several times, quoted once, and his archival portrait was shown in a prominent close-up.
First role
Courtney's first television work came in the 1957 series Escape, after he trained at London's Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and spent two years in repertory theater in Northampton.
Behind the camera
Courtney brought out an autobiography in 1998. He called it Five Rounds Rapid!, a title taken from something the Brigadier said in the 1971 Doctor Who serial The Dæmons.