Nicholas Courtney was born in Egypt, the son of a British diplomat. His early years were spent in Kenya and France and he was called up for National Service at the age of 18. After 18 months of duty in the British forces, Courtney joined the Webber Douglas drama school. He spent two years there and then did repertory theatre in Northampton. His next move was to London. During the 1960s, he played some roles in popular TV series. In 1965, he made an appearance on Doctor Who (1963), during the tenure of William Hartnell . The director, Douglas Camfield , remembered him and, in 1967, cast him as "Captain Knight" in "Doctor Who" episode "The Web of Fear". He took the part of "Lethbridge-Stewart", which was to become his most famous role, when the actor originally cast in the part had to drop out. At this time, Patrick Troughton was the star of the series. Shortly after this, Courtney was offered the chance to play the role regularly and accepted. This guaranteed him work until 1975, when the character was written out of the series. He became a good friend of Jon Pertwee during his time on the programme, and returned in 1983, 1988 and 1989. His other television work has included a comedy with Frankie Howerd . Courtney has maintained a close association with "Doctor Who", narrating the documentary Doctor Who: 30 Years in the Tardis (1993) and attending conventions and appearing in spin-offs. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
He was a close friend of his Doctor Who (1963) co-stars Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker . According to a statement on Tom Baker's website, he visited Courtney at a North London hospice only 5 days before his death. His agent is another former Dr Who assistant, Wendy Padbury . President of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society. Tied (with Elisabeth Sladen ) for the record of Doctor Who actors having appeared with the most incarnations of the title character - including the special Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993), he appeared with all 7 different actors who portrayed the Doctor during the series' original run. He has often played senior British Establishment characters due to his classic British accent. His favourite actor is Paul Scofield . Served on the Equity Council. Performed with the BBC Radio Drama Company. At one time, he had the same agent as original Doctor Who (1963) star, William Hartnell . Won the Margaret Rutherford Medal at the Webber Douglas Academy in 1952. Cast as "Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart" in Doctor Who (1963) by director Douglas Camfield , who himself had served as an officer in the British Army. Although he played a senior officer in many episodes of Doctor Who (1963), Courtney was actually just a private during his period of service in the British Army. Voted best actor by Doctor Who Magazine readers for Battlefield Finally appeared with Colin Baker 's incarnation of the Doctor in the 1993 charity special Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993). He has worked with every actor to play the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (1996) and Doctor Who (2005) except for Christopher Eccleston and Matt Smith . He worked with William Hartnell , Patrick Troughton , Jon Pertwee , Tom Baker , Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy in numerous episodes of Doctor Who (1963) from 1965 to 1989 and with Colin Baker , Paul McGann and David Tennant in numerous Big Finish audio dramas from 2000 to 2003. Along with Patrick Troughton , he is one of only two actors to play the same character (his was Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart) in Doctor Who (1963) in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was the only Doctor Who (1963) actor to attend the funeral of Anthony Ainley - who played the Master on the series from 1981 to 1989 - in May 2004.
The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord: an eccentric, highly-intelligent scientist from a distant planet. He travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a curious device, larger on the inside than on the outside, which was designed to change its appearance to suit its surroundings. Unfortunately, the Doctor's TARDIS seems to be broken, and always appears as a blue British police box. The Doctor has a soft spot for the planet Earth, and often visits there, either to save it from various alien threats or to whisk a choice few inhabitants away to the distant parts of the galaxy to help him fight evil there. The Doctor has many foes, including Daleks (led by Davros), and The Master, another renegade Time Lord. Time Lord biology enables them to regenerate their bodies, and so both the Doctor and the Master appear to evolve over the years...