Richard Hurndall
Born: 3rd November 1910 (as Richard Gibbon Hurndall)
Died: 13th April 1984 (aged 73 years)
Episodes Broadcast: 1983
Richard Hurndall was born in Darlington, County Durham. After completing
his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in
repertory theatre in 1930. Hurndall made his television debut in 1946,
and he joined BBC Radio's drama repertory company in 1949. He rarely
worked in television during the Fifties, but his appearances became more
frequent during the Sixties, including episodes of United!,
Breaking Point, Spindoe and The Power Game.
Hurndall's movie credits were more rare, the first being the 1967
“Bulldog” Drummond adventure Deadlier Than The
Male.
Hurndall's television work remained prolific during the Seventies, and
included It's Murder But Is It Art, The Inheritors, A
Legacy and Oil Strike North. He continued to work into the
early Eighties, on programmes such as Love In A Cold Climate,
Bognor and Rep. A guest role in a 1981 episode of
Blake's 7 caught the eye of Ian Levine, who was acting as a fan
adviser to the Doctor Who production office. When producer John
Nathan-Turner was looking for an actor to replace the late William
Hartnell as the First Doctor, Levine recommended Hurndall. The result
was a memorable turn in The Five
Doctors, which celebrated Doctor Who's twentieth
anniversary in November 1983.
Following the broadcast of The Five
Doctors, fan rumours were rampant that Hurndall would be
reprising the role of the First Doctor. However, during the special's
production in March 1983, his frailty and ill health were evident to the
cast and crew. Hurndall suffered a heart attack and died on April 13th,
1984. His last television credit was an episode of Bergerac,
broadcast on Christmas Eve 1983.
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