Unknown actor Tom Baker was working on a building site when he won the role of the Doctor. No-one could have predicted how phenomonally well he would play the part, which he was almost certainly born to play.
Never having watched the series before, Baker found his portrayal of the Doctor from his own personality. He played the part with such unerring confidence and magnetic charisma that he is hypnotic to watch. His trademark deep, rich voice, goggly-eyed grinning and bohemian costume are iconic, and what most people immediately bring to mind as the essence of Doctor Who.
Only visually was the series consistently let down, but in the halycon Tom Baker era this didn't matter. Who cared that the Daleks were crap, the scenery looked fake and the plots were ridiculous with the Fourth Doctor bounding about being effortlessly funny and watchable? And when not being humourous, his bleak, dark foreboding moods were just as entertaining. Words cannot express the genius of Tom's performance, and the joy of watching the finest moments of his seven-year run: The City Of Death, The Pyramids Of Mars, The Talons Of Weng Chiang, The Masque Of Mandragora, The Face Of Evil, The Robots Of Death, Genesis Of The Daleks, The Invisible Enemy... The list goes on.
Baker had previously led a very interesting life, including some time as a Trappist Monk. His autobiography, Who On Earth Is Tom Baker? is a superb read, by turns hilariously and tragic. Its a shame in some ways that you can pick up for about £2.99 in those crappy little cheapo bookshops.
His caree since leaving Doctor Who has failed to match his amazing talents, and has been very much confined to playing brilliant and charismatic eccentrics. He was criminally underused in the Dungeons and Dragons movie, and unforgivably and unfathomably overlooked for the roles of Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movie. |
