Editing William Hartnell (section)

===Early career===
Hartnell entered the theatre in 1925<ref name="biog"/> working under [[Frank Benson (actor)|Frank Benson]] as a general stagehand.<ref name="meyrick"/><ref name="times">"Obituary: Mr William Hartnell&nbsp;– An actor of varied talents", ''[[The Times]]'', 25 April 1975.</ref> He appeared in numerous Shakespearian plays, including ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', ''[[As You Like It]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[The Tempest]]'' and ''[[Macbeth]]'' (all 1926). He also appeared in ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'', ''[[The School for Scandal]]'' (both 1926) and ''Good Morning, Bill'' (1927), before performing in ''Miss Elizabeth's Prisoner'' (1928). This play was written by [[Robert Neilson Stephens]] and E. Lyall Swete. It featured the actress Heather McIntyre,<ref>Craig Cabell ''Who Were the Doctors'' (John Blake, 2013)</ref> whom he married during the following year.<ref name="dnb"/> His first of more than 60 film appearances was in ''[[Say It with Music (1932 film)|Say It With Music]]'' (1932).

Radio work also featured in his career, with his earliest known performance – in a production of ''Chinese Moon Party'' – being broadcast by the BBC on 11 May 1931.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/1389f789b52e478682ecbd2c680f7cc8 |title=BBC Genome Project, 11 May 1931|access-date=5 March 2018 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

From the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], Hartnell attempted to volunteer for the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]].<ref>Carney, p. 91</ref> He served in the [[British Army]] in the Tank Corps, but he was invalided out after 18 months as the result of a nervous breakdown and returned to acting.<ref name="dnb"/> In 1942, he was cast as Albert Fosdike in [[Noël Coward]]'s film ''[[In Which We Serve]]''. He turned up late for his first day of shooting, and Coward berated him in front of the cast and crew for his unprofessionalism, made him personally apologise to everyone and then sacked him. [[Michael Anderson (director)|Michael Anderson]], who was the [[First Assistant Director|first assistant director]], took over the part (and was credited as "Mickey Anderson").<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoare |first=Philip |title=Noël Coward: A Biography |url=https://archive.org/details/nolcowardbiogr00hoar |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-684-80937-3 |ref=Hoare}}</ref>

Hartnell continued to play comic characters until he was cast in the robust role of Sergeant Ned Fletcher in ''[[The Way Ahead]]'' (1944).<ref name="times" /> From then on, his career was defined by playing mainly policemen, soldiers and thugs. This typecasting bothered him, for even when he was cast in comedies he found he invariably played the "heavy". In 1947 he was cast in a major role in the [[Boulting brothers]] classic gangster film noir [[Brighton Rock (1948 film)|Brighton Rock]], playing the tough gang underboss, Dallow. In 1957 he appeared in [[Hell Drivers]] as a ruthless and hard-nosed transport yard manager, Cartley.  In 1958, he played the sergeant in the first [[Carry On (film series)|Carry On]] comedy film, ''[[Carry On Sergeant]]''. He appeared as [[serjeant-at-arms]] of [[Grand Fenwick]] Will Buckley, another military character, in the film ''[[The Mouse That Roared (film)|The Mouse That Roared]]'' (1959), which starred [[Peter Sellers]], and he played a town [[councillor]] in the [[Boulting brothers]]' film ''[[Heavens Above!]]'' (1963), again with Sellers.

His first regular role on television was as [[Sergeant Major]] Percy Bullimore in ''[[The Army Game]]'' in 1957. He left after the first season and returned for the final season in 1961. Again, although it was a comedy series, he found himself cast in a "tough guy" role. He also appeared in a supporting role in the film version of ''[[This Sporting Life]]'' (1963), giving a sensitive performance as an ageing [[rugby league]] talent scout known as "Dad".<ref name="times"/>

Hartnell described himself as "a legitimate character actor of the theatre and film".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/aug/22/doctor-who-rediscovered-william-hartnell-interview |first=Charles |last=Norton |title=Doctor Who: the rediscovered William Hartnell interview |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 August 2013 |access-date=8 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="Points West">{{cite web |url=https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=hartnell-the-daleks-were-difficult-to-play-to |title=Hartnell: 'The Daleks were difficult to play to' |last=Allen |first=Christopher |work=DoctorWho.tv |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=5 October 2013 |accessdate=8 July 2021 }}</ref>