Jon Pertwee

Jon Pertwee
Pertwee at a Doctor Who Convention in Glasgow, March 1996
Born	John Devon Roland Pertwee (1919-07-07)7 July 1919 Chelsea, London, UK
Died	20 May 1996(1996-05-20) (aged 76) Sherman, Connecticut, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Putney Vale Crematorium
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1938–1996
Notable work	Doctor Who (1970–74) Worzel Gummidge (1979–81, 1987–89) The Navy Lark (1959-1977)
Spouse(s)	Jean Marsh (m. 1955; div. 1960) Ingeborg Rhoesa (m. 1960; his death 1996)
Children	Dariel Pertwee (born 1961) Sean Pertwee (born 1964)
Parent(s)	Roland Pertwee

John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, entertainer and cabaret performer.

Pertwee is most known for starring as the Third Doctor in the science-fiction series Doctor Who between 1970 and 1974. Pertwee also spent 18 years (1959–1977) playing Chief petty officer Pertwee in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio. He later played the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1987 to 1989.

As an actor, Pertwee appeared in many comedy roles and was once described as having "rubbery features and ability to affect silly voices". Earlier in his career, Pertwee had worked as a vaudeville comedian, performed at the Glasgow Empire Theatre and shared a bill with Max Wall and Jimmy James. Towards the end of his life, he performed to audiences in a one-man show called Who Is Jon Pertwee?.

Born in Chelsea, London, and having Huguenot ancestry (the name was an Anglicisation of "Perthuis"; the origins of his surname being "de Perthuis de Laillevault"), Jon was the son of noted screenwriter and actor Roland Pertwee and distant cousin of actor Bill Pertwee. Pertwee’s mother, Avice Scholtz, separated from his father Roland when Pertwee was young. His father remarried, and his mother found a new partner, with whom Pertwee did not build a relationship. Avice’s sister Daphne married Captain Philip Cecil Clowes and became the mother of Pertwee's cousin, the writer St. John Legh Clowes (1907–1951). The actor Henry Ainley, a close friend of his father, was his godfather. Coincidentally, Ainley's son Anthony appeared as "The Master" – a renegade Time Lord who was "The Doctor's" greatest enemy – alongside Pertwee in the 1983 Doctor Who anniversary story The Five Doctors.